One-day international captain Mitch Marsh will face media this week
Red ball captain Pat Cummins also expected to face questioning
There is still more to tell about Australian cricket’s ball-tampering controversy according to Usman Khawaja, beyond what is included in his book, as his former teammates steel themselves for their reckoning with a dismayed and disappointed cricket community.
Khawaja wrote in his book Sabr, out on Tuesday, that he urged his teammates to accept collective responsibility for the incident in a 21-page chapter that has resuscitated calls for players – including Test captain Pat Cummins – to address if they had any knowledge about the use of sandpaper to help the ball swing on the 2018 tour of South Africa.
Cummins and current ODI captain Mitchell Marsh were part of the Australian side in Cape Town when Cameron Bancroft was caught applying sandpaper to the ball, an act which saw him – as well as captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner – suspended.
“I’m not writing [this chapter] because I think it will help the sales of my book – if it was for sales, I could write another 10 pages about it,” Khawaja wrote in the section titled “Sandpaper”. “But I still don’t think it’s right that those three boys copped all of the brunt.”
Marsh will be the first current player to face the media since extracts of Khawaja’s book were published this week, as his side prepares for a series against England that marks the start of the Australian summer’s international competition.
Khawaja also claimed that in a meeting with the players, it was put to the group the trio had “put their hands up to cop it” because “apparently, we had to look after the coaches, because they were more vulnerable than us”.
Then-coach Darren Lehmann, who resigned at the end of the series and is now an ABC commentator, denied knowing the extent of his side’s ball-tampering. “You know something’s going on because that’s been happening for a long period of time, but not to the extent, and that’d be everyone, I imagine. Everyone would think something’s going on, but what do they know? That [is something] only an individual can answer.”
Former Australia captain Mark Taylor said on Sunday he was disappointed in Khawaja’s decision to revisit the incident in his book, and warned Cummins would also have to face the media in the coming weeks.
“That’s why I’m disappointed, because it’s now going to overshadow the summer ahead,” he told Channel Nine. “It will be obviously very tough for Pat and the bowlers because they’re going to have to answer further ongoing questions which they’ve now done for eight years.”
Marsh is due to address the media in his customary preview press conference on Thursday, before the first ODI in Perth on Friday.
Khawaja’s autobiography alleges knowledge of the ball-tampering extended beyond the banned trio. The book includes an allegation that two players refused to take collective responsibility for the wrongdoing, and that a coach encouraged Bancroft to tamper with the ball.
Cricket Australia responded to the claims made in Khawaja’s book with a statement on Saturday. “All relevant information presented to CA to date has been properly considered and we remain comfortable with the findings of our integrity process,” a CA spokesperson said.
The book, named after the Arabic word for endurance, also revealed the frustrations of Warner – a childhood friend of Khawaja – caused by the 2021 media statement issued by the bowlers who played in the match, including Cummins. The quartet claimed they did not know “a foreign substance was taken onto the field to alter the condition of the ball” until images appeared on the big screen at Newlands.
Warner has avoided the topic of Usman Khawaja’s book in multiple media appearances in Nepal since its claims were published two days ago. He is playing for the Kathmandu Gorkhas in the third edition of the Nepal Premier League and hit 66 off 50 in his most recent appearance.
Appearing at a meet and greet in Nepal on Sunday night, Warner was asked only trivial questions by the host and attendeesHe is due to return to Australia in two weeks and is scheduled to appear alongside former England captain Michael Vaughan at a ticketed Melbourne Q&A event. Vaughan wrote over the weekend in The Times that the matter resurfacing “could completely dismantle” the Australian team.
“Australia are a resilient bunch, but this is going to be a difficult few weeks and a lot can happen between now and next summer. This has happened at the worst possible time for Cummins and his team.”
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