{"id":957554,"date":"2026-11-08T23:24:13","date_gmt":"2026-11-08T23:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/957554\/"},"modified":"2026-11-08T23:24:13","modified_gmt":"2026-11-08T23:24:13","slug":"cricket-news-2026-what-usman-khawajas-critics-need-to-realise-about-sandpaper-scandal-comment-piece","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/957554\/","title":{"rendered":"Cricket news 2026: What Usman Khawaja\u2019s critics need to realise about sandpaper scandal | Comment piece"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are a few things the thousands of people firing shots at Usman Khawaja<\/a> need to realise about the sandpaper scandal.<\/p>\n

Firstly, a note to those who say the former Australian<\/a> Test opener has done some of his mates dirty by claiming all players and staff on the 2018 tour of South Africa<\/a> were aware of the Cape Town sandpaper plot<\/a>, and that sandpaper was used to rough up the ball in the previous match.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Former Test cricketer Usman Khawaja.\u00a0Darrian Traynor\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Ahem. Here goes.<\/p>\n

The players and staff who left David Warner<\/a>, Steve Smith<\/a> and Cameron Bancroft<\/a> to shoulder all blame for the ball-tampering disgrace, rather than agreeing to take collective accountability, were happy for three of their mates to be scapegoats for the most shameful crime in Australian cricket<\/a> history.<\/p>\n

Khawaja was a member of the team that played in the infamous Cape Town Test, and he played in the previous match at Port Elizabeth, now known as Gqeberha, where, according to his allegations, sandpaper sins were also committed.<\/p>\n

However, according to Khawaja\u2019s version of events, he wanted the team to cop it collectively \u2013 himself included \u2013 but didn\u2019t get his way.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven in the change rooms when I was talking to them (his teammates) after the game, I said, \u2018Take this as a team\u2019,\u201d Khawaja was quoted as saying by The Age<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did this as a team. We knew what was going on, and we have to take it as a team, and so I was always of that stance.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, it didn\u2019t work that way, and those three guys got crucified.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, eight years on, Khawaja has found closure for the three scapegoats.<\/p>\n

Secondly, a message for those who have blasted Khawaja over the timing of his bombshell claims \u2013 the best part of a decade after the incident, and just three days out from the release of his book, Sabr, which will hit shelves on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

If he had broken ranks at the time of the scandal or at any point while his international career was still live, he would not have played for Australia again. Period.<\/p>\n

Look at what happened to Bancroft. Asked by The Guardian in 2021 if at least some of the bowlers \u2013 Pat Cummins<\/a>, Mitchell Starc<\/a>, Josh Hazlewood<\/a> and Nathan Lyon<\/a> were the four mainliners \u2013 were in on the plan, he said it was \u201cself-explanatory\u201d. He has never played for Australia again.<\/p>\n

The WA opener churned out 945 Sheffield Shield<\/a> runs at 59.06 over the 2022-23 summer \u2013 easily the most in the competition \u2013 and struck 778 Shield runs at 48.62 across the 2023-24 season, yet was snubbed for a revolving door of alternative top-order options after the Test retirement of Warner.<\/p>\n

Khawaja says he pushed internally for the team to wear it as a collective. No one talking sense can say he should have gone public with the explosive allegations when he was shut down. His international career would have disappeared down the toilet like that bit of sandpaper disappeared down Bancroft\u2019s pants.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Cameron Bancroft and Steve Smith talk with the umpires during the 2018 Cape Town Test.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

Besides, Khawaja said in one of two extraordinary social media videos posted on Sunday that he wanted to blow the whistle when Cricket Australia handed down the punishments for Warner, Smith and Bancroft. He said Smith implored him to not do that, and he agreed begrudgingly.<\/p>\n

Khawaja, who played his final Test against England at the SCG just 10 months ago, pointed out that if he wanted to maximise his book profits he would have detonated the bomb during the recent tour of South Africa.<\/p>\n

As Khawaja rightly pointed out, doing so would have been taking up \u201cthe greatest marketing opportunity\u201d.<\/p>\n

Out of respect for the team \u2013 in particular, Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood and Lyon \u2013 he bided his time.<\/p>\n

Khawaja, who turns 40 on December 18, insists he set off the ticking time bomb because the truth is important. He also said Warner, Smith and Bancroft deserved justice, and revealed he had promised Warner, his great childhood mate, that he would go public with his side of the story.<\/p>\n

Which leads to another thing those taking aim at Khawaja need to realise.<\/p>\n

Khawaja\u2019s version smells like the truth for several reasons. For starters, he would be doing untold damage to his relationships with his former teammates and his own legacy if what he claims is the truth turns out to be false. Would he put himself through that just to sell some more books? It seems incredibly unlikely.<\/p>\n

The other important element that appears to back Khawaja\u2019s version is the practical application of using sandpaper on the ball. The idea of a member of the team going to work on the ball with sandpaper and the bowlers having no knowledge of it is ludicrous.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Pat Cummins and Usman Khawaja during a net session in 2023.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we finally now know the most hidden secret in the game \u2026 all the Aussie team knew about the sandpaper,\u201d former England captain Michael Vaughan<\/a> wrote on X on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo shit Sherlock.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to News Corp, Khawaja says in his book that Cricket Australia conducted an \u201cunthorough investigation\u201d as if it \u201cdid not want to find out the whole truth\u201d, and that \u201cwhen the shit hit the fan the big dogs at CA didn\u2019t want to know\u201d.<\/p>\n

When Bancroft\u2019s 2021 interview with The Guardian reignited the raging fire, Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood and Lyon released a strongly worded joint statement saying they prided themselves on their honesty and insisting they did not know about the illegal use of a \u201cforeign substance\u201d.<\/p>\n

Those four bowlers, who still make up Australia\u2019s chief quartet eight years on, have not spoken publicly since Khawaja blew the lid off.<\/p>\n

Mitch Marsh<\/a>, who played and bowled in all four Tests of the 2018 series, but wasn\u2019t a signatory of the 2021 bowlers\u2019 statement, will face media at Perth Stadium on Thursday, as Australia\u2019s captain for the looming white-ball series against England.<\/p>\n

There won\u2019t be many questions about the white-ball stuff.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Khawaja\u2019s critics have some food for thought.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are a few things the thousands of people firing shots at Usman Khawaja need to realise about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":957555,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-957554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/957554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=957554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/957554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/957555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=957554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=957554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=957554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}