Cummins rejects Khawaja’s account of 2018 ball-tampering

Australia captain Pat Cummins has rejected Usman Khawaja’s account that the wider team knew about the 2018 ball-tampering plot, saying he did not know sandpaper was being taken onto the field and had no part in planning its use. Cummins described Khawaja’s suggestion that he and others helped devise the scheme as “complete and utter nonsense.”

The dispute follows the release of Khawaja’s autobiography, which reportedly says the whole team knew of the plan to rough up the ball with sandpaper. In an interview, Khawaja said, “It was all of us,” including batters, bowlers and staff. Those accounts differ sharply from Cummins’s denial; the reporting does not independently establish what teammates knew.

Cummins said he had maintained for eight years that he was unaware sandpaper was going onto the field. He distinguished that question from Khawaja’s reported allegation that he and other players were architects of a plan. Cummins said there was no team meeting or coordinated plan to use illegal methods.

Khawaja has also said that, after the Cape Town Test, he urged teammates to take collective responsibility rather than leave Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft to bear the...