Aussie legend Ian Healy has hit back at Usman Khawaja as they reignite their feud over an appearance at the Melbourne Grand Prix two years ago.
Khawaja, 39, has sent shockwaves through the sport with fresh Sandpapergate revelations in his book Sabr in which he claims the entire Aussie team knew about the cheating, and that the covert tactic was used prior to the infamous Cape Town Test match.
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But the ex-Aussie batsman’s airing of grievances extend beyond Sandpapergate.
Khawaja also addressed Healy’s criticism of his decision to attend the 2024 Melbourne Grand Prix rather than play for Queensland in the Sheffield Shield.
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At the time of the comments, Khawaja insisted he had a minor hamstring injury, while he also claimed he had agreed with Cricket Australia he was not going to play in the match.
Now he has described Healy as having “absolutely nailed’’ him for being pictured at the Grand Prix, and accused the former Aussie wicketkeeper of making it sound as though “I was only worried about myself and not giving back”.
Healy, though, who is deputy chairman of Queensland Cricket, has not taken those comments lying down.
Speaking on SENQ on Thursday, he said: “I didn’t know he was going to the Grand Prix and neither did his team.
“He didn’t even tell the team why he wasn’t playing. I sussed it out with all sorts of medicos in our dressing room and the head of our high performance and they denied the injury.
“They tested him structurally and his functionality and they said there is no hammy (hamstring injury) you are right to play. He did not say that in his book.
“Then they said ‘Let’s get it scanned this afternoon’ and he refused to get it scanned.
“That’s what I was going on and it was a shame he does not support his team better than that.”
Healy, who played 119 Tests and scored more than 4,000 runs for Australia, also went on to claim the Grand Prix incident was not his only run-in with Khawaja over missing Queensland games.
“I had a go at him another time, as did all our former players, for not playing in Adelaide for a Sheffield Shield game which was on a Test pitch a fortnight later,’’ Healy added.
“The one that might have been the straw which broke the camel’s back was this Grand Prix one.”
Khawaja’s claims that the Aussie squad used sandpaper in the first Test of the 2018 South Africa series has put Australian cricket into a blender.
David Warner, who was banned alongside Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft, has supported Khawaja’s claims.
Former coach Darren Lehmann and bowler Mitchell Starc have denied any knowledge of the incident, while captain Pat Cummins is due to face the media on Friday morning.
Khawaja’s book also claims he and Warner were both furious about an unnamed fast-bowler’s TV appearance where he distanced himself from the three banned players.
Code Sports revealed Khawaja was referring to Josh Hazlewood.
In the book, Khawaja says: “One of the bowlers went on The Back Page TV show (screened on Fox Sports) and was asked point blank if he’d known anything about the ball tampering.
“He flat out denied it. David was seething, and understandably so. I remember him texting me and sending the clip.
“I didn’t mind the guys staying quiet. Hell, I was doing the same thing. But to come out and say that on live TV really p***ed me off. If you aren’t willing to tell the whole story, just stay quiet.’’
Originally published as Aussie cricket legend explodes at Usman Khawaja over controversial F1 image