{"id":3978,"date":"2026-11-07T13:03:57","date_gmt":"2026-11-07T08:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3978"},"modified":"2026-11-07T13:03:57","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T08:03:57","slug":"khawaja-says-ball-tampering-discussions-wider-than-2018-probe-found","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3978","title":{"rendered":"Khawaja says ball-tampering discussions wider than 2018 probe found"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Former Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja said in a new autobiography excerpted on Saturday that discussions about ball-tampering during Australia\u2019s 2018 tour of \u200bSouth Africa were more widespread within the team than Cricket Australia\u2019s \u200cinvestigation found.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The \u201cSandpapergate\u201d scandal over Australia\u2019s scuffing of the ball with sandpaper in the March 2018 test in Cape Town sparked a major integrity crisis for Cricket Australia.<\/p>\n

In a statement \u200bon Saturday, the governing body defended its 2018 probe<\/a> that concluded prior \u200bknowledge was confined to three players \u2014 Steve Smith, David Warner and \u2060Cameron Bancroft.<\/p>\n

Khawaja, in extracts of his autobiography published in the Sydney Morning \u200bHerald<\/em> on Saturday, claimed \u201copen, lighthearted discussions\u201d were held during the South Africa series \u200babout ways to scuff up the ball, including by using sandpaper.<\/p>\n

He said discussion of tampering was not confined to batters, bowlers or staff but extended throughout the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was all \u200bof us,\u201d Khawaja, a former top-order batsman who played 88 Tests for \u200bAustralia, said in the book, according to the newspaper.<\/p>\n

Khawaja was cleared of wrongdoing in the \u200cprobe \u2060and announced his retirement in January.<\/p>\n

Cricket Australia in 2018 imposed playing bans and other penalties on Smith, Warner and Bancroft.<\/p>\n

Head coach Darren Lehmann was cleared of direct involvement but resigned soon after the series.<\/p>\n

Cricket Australia said on Saturday: \u201cAll \u200brelevant information presented to \u200bCA to \u2060date has been properly considered and we remain comfortable with the findings of our integrity process.\u201d<\/p>\n

It added: \u201cThere has been the \u200bongoing opportunity to present any relevant information, and this \u200bremains the \u2060case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australian captain Pat Cummins, one of the bowlers who played in the infamous test at Cape Town, this month dismissed suggestions<\/a> that Khawaja\u2019s autobiography could trigger further fallout \u2060when \u200bpublished.<\/p>\n

South Africa won the 2018 four-match Test series \u200b3-1.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s test team last month returned to South Africa for the first time since 2018 and lost<\/a> \u200bthe three-match series 2-1.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja said in a new autobiography excerpted on Saturday that discussions about ball-tampering during Australia\u2019s 2018 tour of \u200bSouth Africa were more widespread within the team than Cricket Australia\u2019s \u200cinvestigation found. The \u201cSandpapergate\u201d scandal over Australia\u2019s scuffing of the ball with sandpaper in the March 2018 test in Cape Town sparked a major integrity crisis for Cricket Australia. In a statement \u200bon Saturday, the governing body defended its 2018 probe that concluded prior \u200bknowledge was confined to three players \u2014 Steve Smith, David Warner and \u2060Cameron…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3978\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}