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‘It was all of us’ – Khawaja exposes sandpaper details from 2018. Set to unveil his version of events in explosive autobiography, Usman Khawaja tells Nine papers he was never interviewed by CA about Cape Town 2018
Published: Nov 7, 2026, 8:47 AM
Usman Khawaja has revealed his version of the 2018 sandpaper scandal • Getty Images
Usman Khawaja has claimed the entire Australia team was involved in the sandpaper plot in 2018, including using it on the ball in the Gqeberha Test prior to Cape Town, and that he was never interviewed by Cricket Australia’s investigator about the incident despite sitting next to Cameron Bancroft in the dressing room.
Khawaja is set to detail his explosive claims in his autobiography Sabr that will be published on Tuesday. He had already briefed Australia captain Pat Cummins and CA CEO Todd Greenberg about the book. Khawaja has written the book himself without any help from an established writer or journalist.
But in an interview with the Nine papers on Saturday, three days out from the book’s release, Khawaja has revealed what will be in it regarding the controversial “Sandpapergate” incident, stating that the entire team knew about the use of sandpaper on the ball in Cape Town and that it had been used in the previous Test as well.
‘We weren’t aware’ – Starc denies knowledge of taking sandpaper onto the field
Up until now, the long-held public narrative from both CA and the players and staff members involved in the incident was that only Steven Smith, David Warner and Bancroft were responsible for it. Smith and Warner were banned for a year from playing international and domestic cricket while Bancroft was banned for nine months. Warner, who was Test vice-captain at the time, was handed an additional penalty of being banned from all leadership positions in international and Australian domestic cricket for life. That ban was later overturned in 2024 which allowed him to captain Sydney Thunder in the BBL.
In 2021, Bancroft gave an interview to the Guardian where he stated under questioning that it was “self-explanatory” that the bowlers had awareness that the ball was being tampered with in Cape Town. In response to that interview Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon released a joint statement denying any knowledge of ball tampering saying, “we did not know a foreign substance was taken onto the field to alter the condition of the ball until we saw the images on the big screen at Newlands”.
Khawaja said he did not want to be the one revealing the truth but felt an obligation to do so.
“In an ideal world, I don’t want to do this,” Khawaja said. “I don’t want to be the one who comes out and talks about the truth. The issue is that I genuinely thought after eight years the truth would have been out by now.
“Maybe I thought Davey would have exposed it, or someone else would have talked about it more. I just didn’t think it was going to come down to this. But the longer it’s gone on for, and right from the very start, I’ve been on the train of collectively taking it.
“Even in the change rooms when I was talking to them after the game. I said, ‘Take this as a team’. We did this as a team. We knew what was going on, and we have to take it as a team, and so I was always of that stance.
“Obviously, it didn’t work that way, and those three guys got crucified.
“I’ve seen Davey over the last eight years just get nailed bad over and over again, and it’s taken a big man not to say anything and just to stay quiet.
“And he’s just copped it and he’s copped it and he’s copped it.
“And then ‘Bangers’ [Bancroft] in the same note, particularly, he played a little bit of Test cricket after that, but then never came back in, even though he’s been scoring a lot of runs. He’s been a terrific cricketer for a long time, but I know it’s something that hangs over his head.
“Even Steve Smith. Steve’s lucky, the greatest batsman of my generation. He came back from that, and he’s come back as good as he ever was in that first Ashes series, and it’s kind of been forgotten for him in some respects. But I know he has never ever forgotten that year and how it all panned out.
“But I’m not doing this for any other reason than I think it’s the right thing to do. I’ve always felt like there’s more to life than just cricket, and these guys, in some respect, deserve that justice. And it just doesn’t feel like anyone’s going to give it to them. None of those three want to be the first to say anything. And rightly so, it will just be hearsay and ‘their word’ if they do. They needed someone else to say something.”
Khawaja also revealed that he was never interviewed by CA about the incident. Between the Cape Town and Johannesburg Tests, then CA CEO James Sutherland sent then CA head of integrity Iain Roy and team performance manager Pat Howard to Cape Town to conduct a code-of-conduct investigation into the events of the match. That investigation led to the punishments of Smith, Warner and Bancroft.
“I was sitting next to Cam Bancroft that whole Test match, and I didn’t get interviewed,” Khawaja said. “I thoroughly feel that I didn’t get interviewed because of that, because they knew that I wanted to take it as a team, because they knew I was ready to tell the truth if I was interviewed.
“And I was waiting for my phone to ring. It just never rang, and then the penalties were given, and I couldn’t believe it.”
Roy was removed from his role three months later. Sutherland quit his post in the same week after 17 years in the role. Howard left his role in November following a damning cultural review into Australian cricket.
CA released a statement following Khawaja’s interview with Nine saying it was comfortable with the integrity process of the entire incident.
“There has been a great deal of speculation in the eight years since the 2018 Cape Town Test, including extensive media coverage throughout last month’s series in South Africa,” the CA statement said.
“During this time there has been the ongoing opportunity to present any relevant information, and this remains the case.
“All relevant information presented to CA to date has been properly considered and we remain comfortable with the findings of our integrity process.”
Khawaja also claims the South Africa team were “far better” at working on the ball than Australia and that his team were “trying to keep up with them”. He said he has details of what they were doing in the book. Then South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis has stated on a number of occasions that his team were also trying to get the ball to reverse via unconventional methods and he had previously been sanctioned twice for ball tampering, including for using mints in a Test match against Australia.
“They were so good, and I discuss in a little bit of detail about what I’d heard from one of their players and what they were doing,” Khawaja said.
Alex Malcolm is an associate editor at Cricinfo
‘Don’t want to speculate’ – Handscomb, Root keep distance from fresh sandpaper claims
Handscomb hasn’t reached out to any of the other players but said: “I’m sure their phones are probably going mental anyway”
Published: Nov 11, 2026, 9:57 PM (31 mins ago)
Pat Cummins is yet to comment on new revelations around the 2018 sandpaper controversy • Getty Images
The wait goes on to find out when Australia captain Pat Cummins will address the new revelations around the 2018 sandpaper controversy, as the man who led the cultural review which followed events in South Africa says that if what Usman Khawaja has alleged in his autobiography is true, then he was “lied to.”
The day after Mitchell Starc became the first of the active players who were part of the 2018 tour to speak, where he denied knowledge of sandpaper being used at any stage, Peter Handscomb politely declined to offer further comment after making a century for Victoria at the MCG.
Handscomb was one of the reserve players the day Cameron Bancroft was caught on TV and was told over the walkie-talkie by coach Darren Lehmann to run a message to the middle asking what was happening.
Related
‘100% accurate’ – Warner throws his support behind Khawaja on sandpapergate revelations
‘It was ridiculous’ – Khawaja details Port Elizabeth sandpapering
‘We weren’t aware’ – Starc denies knowledge of taking sandpaper onto the field
“Look, I appreciate you have to ask these questions,” he said. “I’ve had a nice day today, and it’s not really something that I want to comment on right now. I’ll sort of just let the powers of people do their thing.”
Asked whether the revelations do more harm than good, he said: “I mean, things come up all the time. People are allowed to talk about what they want to talk about. That’s up to them. So, you know, in professional cricket, where you deal with a lot of noise, you do have to move on. So everyone [is] dealing with it in their way.”
He added he hadn’t reached out to any of the other players but said: “I’m sure their phones are probably going mental anyway.”
Across the other side of the country, Joe Root also deflected questions when he was asked about the 2017-18 Ashes, where Khawaja has claimed Australia were lifting the quarter seam and that “the whole world was doing whatever little they could” to find reverse swing.
“I wasn’t in that [Australia] dressing room, I don’t know what went on,” Root said ahead of the ODI series against Australia. “I don’t want to speculate. My focus is with this team right now and what we’ve got coming up.
“In terms of everything that’s happening or come out in the last little while, we obviously have no idea, and it’s all speculation. Our focus and our concerns are on this three-match series.”
Asked about whether all teams were tampering at the time, he said: “I can only speak from my own experiences and that’s not how I feel, no.”
Some of the more eye-catching comments that emerged on Wednesday came from Simon Longstaff, who led the cultural review into Australian cricket, which was undertaken after the fallout from the South Africa tour.
In a column for the Australian Financial Review, Longstaff stressed that the terms of reference for The Ethics Centre review “explicitly excluded any investigation of the specific events that led to our inquiry” as they had been investigated and concluded by Cricket Australia (CA).
But he added: “Even so, we picked up whispers – very few and very faint – that, perhaps, the public record did not tell the full story. Given that we were precluded from straying from our task, the best we could do was circle back to some of those whom we had interviewed to offer them the opportunity to amend their statements about what had occurred.
“I am bound by ongoing duties of confidentiality not to name the people with whom I subsequently spoke. All I can say is that if what Khawaja alleges turns out to be true, then I was also lied to. In the face of explicit denials that there was anything more to be said on the matter, we were left with “whispers” … and nothing more.”
Meanwhile, David Warner also commented again via social media when he replied to a post involving an interview with Chris Broad, father of Stuart, where he took aim at Lehmann by referencing both 2018 and the reaction to Broad’s edge that wasn’t given out at Trent Bridge in the 2013 Ashes.
“And there he was in 2013, taking the moral high ground against my son, where he played the Australian game of nicking the ball and waiting for the umpire to give him out, and he got given not out on that occasion, and then [Lehmann] came out in the media saying ‘we’re going to make him cry when he comes to Australia next,'” Chris Broad told Track Radio.
“And here he is, the coach of the Australian cricket team that brought sandpaper out onto the field of play and denied any knowledge of this happening. I’m very angry at Darren Lehmann in this respect.”
On X, Warner responded: “I couldn’t agree more and that’s hard for me to say!”
Khawaja arrived in Sydney on Wednesday to continue promoting the book after a tense interview on ABC‘s 7.30 Report the previous evening. In response to reports that TV and radio interviews as part of the book tour had been dropped, the publishers, Penguin, told ABC “we’ve just had to make some adjustments, but no major cancellation of the tour at all.”
Mitchell Marsh, who was in the Test side on the 2018 tour, is the next significant name set to front the media when he does his captain’s press conference on Thursday ahead of the first ODI in Perth.
Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at Cricinfo
‘We weren’t aware’ – Starc denies knowledge of taking sandpaper onto the field
“As I said before, I’ll stick to what I said five years ago, what I said at the time, eight years ago”
Published: Nov 10, 2026, 6:27 PM
When asked if he would talk to Khawaja, Starc said, “It’s up to him” • Getty Images
Mitchell Starc has denied knowledge of Australia taking sandpaper onto the field at any stage during the 2018 tour of South Africa as he became the first of the established bowling quartet who played in that series to comment following the revelations in Usman Khawaja’s autobiography which have been backed by David Warner.
Starc said “my recollection hasn’t changed” from the joint statement the bowlers – him, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon – put out in 2021 following Cameron Bancroft’s interview where he claimed it was “self explanatory” that the bowlers knew. Starc also indicated he “probably won’t” read the book and left the nature of his future relationship with Khawaja in doubt.
Khawaja’s autobiography Sabr, which was released on Tuesday, includes extensive details of not just the Cape Town Test where Australia were caught with sandpaper but the match before in Gqeberha, then Port Elizabeth, where he describes a session where the visitors had made the ball reverse swing lavishly.
Related
‘Don’t want to speculate’ – Handscomb, Root keep distance from fresh sandpaper claims
CA CEO: No ‘compelling reason’ to re-open investigation
‘It was ridiculous’ – Khawaja details Port Elizabeth sandpapering
Warner throws his support behind Khawaja on sandpapergate revelations
Bancroft ‘keen to move on’ as ball-tampering returns to headlines
“I haven’t really paid much attention to it, to be fair,” Starc said of the firestorm created in the last few days. “Obviously, there’s differing opinions of eight years ago. We were heavily grilled through the process at the time, and since, and I guess I won’t speak on behalf of the bowlers, but where I stand, my opinion hasn’t changed. My recollection hasn’t changed from what we said in 2021.”
Asked whether the whole team knew of the plan, Starc said: “That’s obviously in a book. That’s for someone to explain further. As far as our statement said [in 2021], we weren’t aware of anything being taken onto the field. We saw it on the big screen in Cape Town.
“As I said before, I’ll stick to what I said five years ago, what I said at the time, eight years ago. Clearly, there’s different versions from different people, and I’ll leave it where I left it back then.”
Asked specifically about Khawaja’s claims regarding the second Test, Starc said: “That [Cape Town] is the first I was aware of any of that taking place … I’ll leave that one for the author to explain.”
Starc was speaking at an, unsurprisingly, well-attended launch event for host broadcaster Kayo Sports and Fox Cricket ahead of the start of the men’s home international season, with the first ODI against England in Perth on Friday, which will now be overshadowed by the new revelations.
“It’s definitely disappointing, that’s what we’re talking about heading into what has already kicked off an exciting summer,” he said.
He also referenced Darren Lehmann’s interview at the weekend on ABC Grandstand where the former head coach spoke of mental and emotional strain of 2018 being revisited. “He’s not to be forgotten in all that as well,” Starc said.
On Monday, Warner termed the 2018 investigation as “botched” and called for “accountability” and “transparency”. Earlier on Tuesday, Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg said there was no “compelling reason” to re-open the investigation which resulted in bans for Warner, Bancroft and Steven Smith even though that only narrowly focused on events at Newlands.
In an Instagram post over the weekend, Khawaja insisted he had not “thrown anyone under the bus,” but Alyssa Healy, Starc’s wife, suggested differently, with a dose of humour, when she briefly addressed the situation on the Keepin’ it Cricket podcast. Healy may share a commentary box with Khawaja over the summer as they both work for Kayo/Fox, as does Warner.
“Been scraping off bits of Mitch off the bitumen after the bus had just hit him over the last two days,” she said. “I’m obviously in quite a unique predicament, I’m sitting here, I’m working in the media, I have to comment on these things [and] I’m also married to one of the players who is still playing who was there in that series and experienced all of that eight years ago.
“So it’s a hard one for me to comment on. I’m kind of going to sit back and watch it unfold I think, first and foremost, but what I will say is that the timing of it is just a little bit sticky for me, I don’t like that.”
Speaking later at the launch event, Healy added she did not see there being any issues in the commentary box. “I’m not one to sit there and worry about sitting next to anyone in the commentary box, regardless of who it is. We’re a team,” she said.
“From my perspective, it seems to be a little bit closer maybe for me than some of the other [commentators]. Most of the blokes back there just say, ‘Let’s move on and get back to the cricket’. But from my perspective, I’m completely comfortable with [working alongside them].”
Khawaja has defended the timing of the book saying that if it was purely about sales then he would have released it during the recent South Africa tour to maximise publicity and that none of this is about money.
“Before you even start to think about royalties and book sales, I have to sell so many books for royalties to kick in,” Khawaja said in another Instagram video to mark publication day of the book.
“I don’t think I will ever get there. And even if it does, it’s pennies. With all due respect guys, I played cricket for a long time. I am very fortunate. I don’t need the money. This has never been about commercial gain, so whatever you want to feel that’s up to you, but these are the facts.”
Starc, meanwhile, said he had not spoken to Khawaja in recent days and when asked if the pair would talk, he said: “It’s up to him.”
Of the other active players at the centre of the reignited controversy, Bancroft and Lyon will be in Sheffield Shield action on Wednesday for Western Australia (at the MCG) and New South Wales (at Cricket Central) respectively. It’s understood that Bancroft is continuing to weigh up whether to respond. Smith remains in New York but is due back in Sydney next week.
Mitchell Marsh is likely to be the next player from 2018 to speak when he fronts the media in Perth on Thursday as ODI captain ahead of the England series.
Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at Cricinfo
CA CEO says there’s no ‘compelling reason’ to re-open sandpaper investigation
Greenberg says CA board sees “absolutely no benefit in going back” due to the divergence of accounts from those in the Cape Town dressing room
Published: Nov 10, 2026, 9:55 AM
Usman Khawaja and Todd Greenberg in conversation • Getty Images
Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg has said there’s no “compelling reason” to re-open the investigation into the 2018 sandpaper incident despite revelations from Usman Khawaja and David Warner and that the CA board sees “absolutely no benefit in going back” due to the divergence of accounts from those in the Cape Town dressing room.
“There’s absolutely no benefit in going back,” Greenberg told SEN radio. “That’s the clear position of the CA board. I think it’s time we’ve got to look ahead, and the matter was dealt with under a previous leadership back in 2018. And you know, trying to second guess decisions from a previous time, or making an assessment through the prism of hindsight, it’s not something we want to do.”
Khawaja has reignited the controversy with the release of his autobiography Sabr on Tuesday where he devoted an entire chapter to the incident. In it he says that Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft were not the sole people with knowledge of the plot and that the team used sandpaper on the ball in the second Test in Port Elizabeth, prior to being caught at Newlands.
Related
‘We weren’t aware’ – Starc denies knowledge of taking sandpaper onto the field
‘100% accurate’ – Warner throws his support behind Khawaja on sandpapergate revelations
‘It was all of us’ – Khawaja exposes sandpaper details from 2018
Khawaja also revealed that he was never interviewed in the original investigation despite sitting next to Bancroft for the entire Cape Town Test. Warner has subsequently stated that Khawaja’s version is “100% accurate.” Chadd Sayers, who was an Australian squad member in Cape Town and played in the Johannesburg Test after the suspensions were handed down, told Channel 7 on Saturday: “Everything Usman says in his article is accurate.”
Cricinfo understands that one other player from the Cape Town team also corroborates Khawaja’s version of events.
CA made a statement on Saturday after Khawaja was quoted by Nine newspapers ahead saying the organisation was comfortable with the findings of the 2018 investigation. No one from the CA executive or the CA board in 2018 remains at the organisation.
Greenberg was not involved in cricket in 2018 but was the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) CEO from 2020 to 2025 before taking over as CA’s CEO. In his time as ACA CEO he spoke to a large number of the Cape Town participants about the incident and he has also seen the full transcripts of the Cape Town investigation.
Speaking on Tuesday morning he admitted he had not yet read the book but had received a call from Khawaja about it. He also said CA would not be re-opening the investigation into the matter.
“We have said we’re comfortable with the outcome of the investigation based on the information we’ve received, that includes what we’ve seen from Usman and our position hasn’t changed on that,” he said. “I don’t see any compelling reason to open the investigation or revisit this again. I don’t think there’s anything that can be gained from that.”
Greenberg revealed that he had spoken to other players from the Cape Town dressing over the weekend and that their version of events differ from Khawaja’s.
“I can assure you, there are lots of other players who have a very, very different version of events, and they’ve made that very public from the very start in 2018,” Greenberg said. “They’ve been very consistent in their position right through until today, and you know my conversations with many of them over the weekend, I don’t think that will change either. So I think we end up at the same intersection point, which is eight years ago people have a version of events which differ from each other. And I completely get it, no one would like to get this chapter of Australian cricket closed more than me, but it is unlikely.”
Greenberg confirmed that Australia captain Pat Cummins would speak about the issue in the coming days having been one of the bowlers playing in Cape Town. Another bowler in that XI, Mitchell Starc, is due to do a media appearance on Tuesday afternoon. Mitchell Marsh, who also played in Cape Town, will hold a media conference on Thursday ahead of Australia’s first ODI against England in Perth.
“There’s no doubt that you’ll hear from Pat and you’ll hear from other players over the coming days or weeks,” Greenberg said. “And as I said, I know people are calling for the truth, but in reference to the bowlers, I think one thing that is clear is they’ve been very consistent from the original investigation back in 2018, in the days that immediately followed this Test match.
“Again, in their public statements in 2021, and again in many of my conversations with them over the weekend, their position has remained consistent and hasn’t changed, and there’ll obviously be time for them. Pat will speak at some point in the days or weeks ahead, but I expect that their position will be exactly the same as it has been since the start of this in 2018.”
Alex Malcolm is an associate editor at Cricinfo