Australian cricket sandpaper scandal reignites debate

Usman Khawaja's new memoir has revived the sandpapergate scandal in Australian cricket, prompting fresh criticism and calls for a review of the incident that saw Cameron Bancroft caught with sandpaper on the field. In the book Khawaja wrote that the team should accept collective responsibility, saying: "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'." He later added he did not intend to start a "witch hunt" and declined to name anyone who might have known about the scheme.

David Warner, who received the harshest sanction among the Cape Town trio, said Khawaja's account was truthful and that a press conference by Pat Cummins that denied the allegations "threw him under the bus". Steve Smith, the captain at the time, has travelled overseas and has not commented, while Bancroft remains silent despite earlier hints that bowlers were aware. Half of Australia's living cricket royalty and several former coaches have also weighed in, and Cricket Australia faces pressure to reopen the probe, a move chief executive Todd Greenberg has already dismissed.

Professor David Rowe of the University of Western Sydney told the BBC the saga continues to hurt players and fans, describing the nation as seeing itself as "a nation of good sports" and calling the revelation a "nasty shock" that left a lingering sense of collective shame. Rowe warned that without a fresh response from Cricket Australia, saying there is "no more to see here" could only fuel conspiracy theories and keep sandpapergate alive.