Cricket Australia rejects call to reopen 2018 sandpaper inquiry

Cricket Australia will not reopen its investigation into the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, chief executive Todd Greenberg says, despite fresh claims from former batter Usman Khawaja about how widely the use of sandpaper was known within the team.

Greenberg said he had not yet read Khawaja’s autobiography, but wanted to consider what he had written rather than respond to headlines. He said the book contained details that contradicted accounts given by others, and that players had been invited to come forward over the past eight years.

“We don’t see any compelling reason to open the investigation or revisit this again,” Greenberg told Australian outlet Sports Entertainment Network. He said Cricket Australia remained comfortable with the outcome, based on information it had received, including Khawaja’s account.

The scandal centred on the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town in 2018. Captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were banned after Bancroft was caught using sandpaper to alter the ball. Cricket Australia’s investigation found the team’s bowling attack did not know about the tampering.

Khawaja has said the whole team knew sandpaper was being used in the third Test. He has also written that it was used in the second Test at Port Elizabeth. Warner has backed Khawaja’s account, calling it “100% accurate”.

Mitchell Starc, who was part of Australia’s bowling attack in both matches, rejected the claims about what the bowlers knew. He said he and his fellow bowlers had stated in 2021 that they did not know a foreign substance had been taken onto the field, and that his recollection had not changed. Starc said Khawaja’s claim about Port Elizabeth was the first he had heard of sandpaper being used there.

Greenberg said conflicting recollections made it unlikely there could be a single account accepted by everyone. He said the bowlers had been questioned extensively at the time and since, while leaving the door open for players to come forward.