Warner backs Khawaja as Cummins denies sandpaper claims

David Warner publicly backed Usman Khawaja’s account of the 2018 ball-tampering scandal on Friday, criticising Australia captain Pat Cummins for rejecting the claims in Khawaja’s autobiography. Cummins said he had no knowledge of sandpaper being taken onto the field and denied that he or other players planned the scheme. The conflicting accounts have revived debate about who knew what before the incident, which the reporting does not independently resolve.

Khawaja’s book, Sabr, reportedly says the whole Australian team knew about the plan to use sandpaper during the 2018 Test series in South Africa. Warner said he believed Khawaja’s account was true and described Cummins’ response as unfair to his former teammate. Warner, who was one of three players sanctioned after the Cape Town Test, made his comments while covering Australia’s one-day match against England in Perth.

At a press conference in Sydney, Cummins said he did not know sandpaper was going onto the field and rejected Khawaja’s suggestion that he and other bowlers helped devise the plan. He also said he did not remember a conversation or team meeting in which Khawaja urged players to take collective responsibility...