Khawaja says whole Australia team knew of sandpaper use in ball‑tampering

Usman Khawaja, who has amassed 6,229 runs in 88 Tests, said the entire Australian side was aware of sandpaper being used to tamper with the ball. He told that discussions about the ball‑tampering began during the second Test of the series against South Africa at Port Elizabeth – now called Gqeberha – at St George's Park, according to his statements.

Khawaja said the "discovery of sandpaper as an effective agent" came after open conversations in the dressing room, adding that Aaron Smith "essentially threw his hands in the air and said he didn't want to know," Khawaja wrote. He expressed surprise that Cricket Australia never asked him for evidence, stating, "In an ideal world, I don't want to do this. I don't want to be the one who comes out and talks about the truth," and that he had hoped the truth would have emerged after eight years. "The issue is that I genuinely thought after eight years the truth would have been out by now," he added.

While batters Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were sanctioned, Khawaja noted there has been no explanation of why bowlers Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Hazlewood and Josh Lyon did not notice any alteration to the ball. In a 2021 interview with the Guardian, Bancroft was asked if the bowlers knew and replied, "It's pretty probably self-explanatory."

Days after that interview, the quartet released a statement saying, "We feel compelled to put the key facts on the record again. We did not know a foreign substance was taken on to the field to alter the condition of the ball until we saw the images on the big screen at Newlands. And to those who, despite the absence of evidence, insist that 'we must have known' about the use of a foreign substance simply because we are bowlers, we say this: The umpires during that Test match, Nigel Llong and Richard Illingworth, both very respected and experienced umpires, inspected the ball after the images surfaced on the TV coverage and did not change it because there was no sign of damage.

We respectfully request an end to the rumour-mongering and innuendo. It has gone on too long and it is time to move on."