Pat Cummins rejects Usman Khawaja’s sandpaper claims as ‘complete and utter nonsense’

Pat Cummins denounced allegations made by former teammate Usman Khawaja at a press conference at Cricket NSW’s headquarters in Sydney, a week after the claims surfaced, calling them “complete and utter nonsense” and “100% wrong.” He also said he had no knowledge of a ball-tampering plot in South Africa, adding “I did not know that was happening.”

Khawaja set out his account in his memoir, Sabr, alleging that more members of the 2018 Australian side knew about plans to use sandpaper on the ball than the three players who were punished. Australia’s captain at the time Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and opener Cameron Bancroft were handed long suspensions by Cricket Australia after the governing body’s short investigation into the incident. Khawaja has urged that “all” of the team take collective responsibility and claimed sandpaper was used on the ball during the preceding Test.

Cummins told reporters he was surprised by parts of Khawaja’s account, saying, “I was genuinely shocked this week when I found out Usman admitted he told Cam [Bancroft] to be careful when using sandpaper. That’s not Usman that I know.” He described Khawaja as a friend but warned that “friends aren’t casual with each other’s lives and reputations,” adding, “In his book he’s been casual with my life and the lives of many others and, I think, Australian cricket.”

Addressing a specific accusation that senior players orchestrated the tampering, Cummins said Khawaja claimed “I and others were architects of a scheme to ball tamper with sandpaper,” and reiterated, “That’s complete and utter nonsense.” He reiterated he had not been involved and that the allegation that the whole team knew was “100% wrong.”

Cummins rejected the notion of a coordinated plan, telling reporters “there was ‘no masterplan around using illegal methods.’” He elaborated: “People assume you have gone from very legal methods to suddenly taking sandpaper and then must have been some huge master plan. That is not the case. There’s no grand plan, there’s no bowlers saying, ‘this is what must happen’.”

At the same time, Cummins conceded problems with the 2018 team’s approach, saying it had a “win-at-all cost mentality” and an “ugly underbelly,” and stated he had spent time as captain trying to eliminate that mindset over his past six years in charge. He said the way the team previously acted on the field—its conduct toward umpires and opposition—had troubled him as a younger player.

Cummins said he had texted Khawaja briefly since the memoir was released on Tuesday but declined to detail the exchange. He confirmed he had been advised some of the allegations were “probably defamatory” but added, “I won’t be doing that. You’ve got to move on,” and, “It’s been eight years … You got to draw the line at some point. I won’t be doing that.”