Cummins tells Khawaja to tell his story as sandpaper scandal returns to focus

Cummins says Khawaja is free to recount the scandal in his own words

Pat Cummins says he is unfazed by the prospect of Usman Khawaja revisiting Australia’s 2018 ball-tampering scandal in an autobiography due next month. Khawaja told Cummins he was writing the book, which is expected to be published days after Australia’s first Test tour of South Africa since the infamous Cape Town match.

Asked in Durban whether Khawaja had discussed how much detail the book would include, or whether he would share the account given by former teammates, Cummins said: “You would have to ask him.” He added that the episode had been examined at length and that the team had “moved on”.

“He didn’t go into too much detail ... As always it was ‘no worries, you can tell your story, that’s fine’,” Cummins said.

The scandal erupted during the 2018 Cape Town Test, when David Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft were suspended after a plan to tamper with the ball using sandpaper came to light. Warner and Smith received 12-month bans, while Bancroft was banned for nine months. Cricket Australia’s investigation found no other player knew of the plan. Australia’s bowlers also previously denied knowing that a foreign substance would be taken onto the field.

Khawaja, a childhood friend of Warner and a former opening partner, will be the first Australian player who played in that Test to publish an autobiography. The book has been written without a ghostwriter. The source report notes there is no indication Khawaja intends to challenge the findings of the investigation.

Australia return to South Africa with old tensions in view

Discussion of the 2018 series has resurfaced ahead of Friday’s first Test in Durban. Cummins described that series as “pretty full on” but said the current Australian side approaches the game differently and he is proud of how the group has developed since then.

Although the 2018 tour featured confrontations on and off the field, Cummins said the team had made adjustments in the years since. He said the episode had prompted reflection across Test cricket, while stressing that he was comfortable with Khawaja telling his own account.