{"id":961773,"date":"2026-11-12T12:14:27","date_gmt":"2026-11-12T12:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/961773\/"},"modified":"2026-11-12T12:14:27","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T12:14:27","slug":"i-witnessed-sandpaper-under-a-high-profile-players-thumb-cricket-legend-greg-matthews-says-ball-tampering-was-an-open-secret","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/961773\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I witnessed sandpaper under a high-profile player’s thumb’: Cricket legend Greg Matthews says ball-tampering was an open secret"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of Australia\u2019s most famous cricketers has revealed that he witnessed ball tampering by a cricket player who is now a top official.<\/p>\n

Test player Greg Matthews claims a high-profile cricketer showed him sandpaper hidden under his thumb in 2010.<\/p>\n

He says he examined the cricket ball, saw that it had been tampered with, and reported the matter to Cricket NSW, which, he claims, took no action.<\/p>\n

In an exclusive interview with News24, Matthews said that fellow cricketer Stuart MacGill also witnessed this and they\u2019ve spoken about it since.<\/p>\n

Mathews says the player in question now holds a senior position in the cricket industry.<\/p>\n

In the interview, Matthews also claims that ball-tampering has been an open secret and criticises Usman Khawaja for belatedly raising the matter during the promotion for his book when he\u2019s been outspoken on so many other issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s extremely difficult to understand the timing of the moment and the fact he\u2019s been so forthright about trans, gay marriage, Palestine, religion, advertising on his back, writing on his shoe, religion, politics and race are three really big issues in Ussie\u2019s life and here was his moment, sitting next to a young pup,\u201d Matthews said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe could have put his hand on the kid\u2019s leg, Cameron\u2019s leg and said \u2018don\u2019t do this\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthews also calls the revelations a “greedy move” by Khawaja, after how well Pat Cummins had treated him.<\/p>\n

If Cricket Australia re-opened an investigation into ball-tampering, Matthews tells News24 that he would likely co-operate, once again.<\/p>\n

Asked if he had ever personally tampered with a cricket ball, Matthews also said he had used suncream to smooth the one side of the ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would use sunscreen\u2026.Everything is relative. You could absolutely say of course (it\u2019s cheating) because you\u2019re altering the ball,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said he\u2019s aware of other substances being used by cricket players, such as Brylcreem, the men\u2019s hairstyling gel, or even lollypops.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read related topics:Sport<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of Australia\u2019s most famous cricketers has revealed that he witnessed ball tampering by a cricket player who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":961774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[529804,426705,382445,414133,529797,497321,529801,529794,529800,529808,529784,386222,529788,529815,1694,376590,380545,523400,64,485885,63,7779,251935,529811,3200,529783,529805,740,18587,529789,211339,529803,61847,18754,529809,529807,265651,528,529799,529806,378754,418930,377168,529810,529790,529786,529316,25431,399346,410708,441702,6899,529796,1948,20246,529791,16380,296297,11925,525330,529793,529813,44228,529781,85,213316,529787,529782,529798,1211,529795,529814,377205,529785,529780,379398,377724,383892,380455,376785,380433,225862,529812,388231,395303,451074,379843,529802,271776,15192,70541,529792],"class_list":["post-961773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-s-hairstyling-gel","tag-s-leg","tag-s-life","tag-414133","tag-a-greedy-move","tag-a-cricket-ball","tag-a-cricket-player","tag-a-high-profile-cricketer","tag-a-high-profile-player","tag-a-leg-spinner","tag-a-senior-position","tag-a-star","tag-a-top-official","tag-a-young-pup","tag-advertising","tag-an-exclusive-interview","tag-an-investigation","tag-an-open-secret","tag-au","tag-aus-cricket","tag-australia","tag-ball","tag-ball-tampering","tag-brylcreem","tag-cameron","tag-cameron-spencer-getty-images","tag-common-place","tag-cricket","tag-cricket-australia","tag-cricket-legend-greg-matthews","tag-cricket-nsw","tag-cricket-players","tag-cricketers","tag-david-warner","tag-even-lollypops","tag-fellow-cricketer-stuart-macgill","tag-gay-marriage","tag-getty-images","tag-getty-images-mathews","tag-greg-matthews","tag-his-back","tag-his-book","tag-his-hand","tag-his-moment","tag-his-shoe","tag-his-thumb","tag-khawaja","tag-matthews","tag-news24","tag-no-action","tag-other-substances","tag-palestine","tag-pat-cummin","tag-pat-cummins","tag-picture","tag-politics-and-race","tag-question","tag-regular-selection","tag-religion","tag-sandpaper","tag-sandpaper-gate","tag-sandpaper-scandal","tag-shane-warne","tag-so-many-other-issues","tag-sports","tag-stuart-macgill","tag-suncream","tag-sunscreen-everything","tag-superiority","tag-test-cricket","tag-test-player-greg-matthews","tag-the-80s-australian-test-team","tag-the-ball","tag-the-cricket-ball","tag-the-cricket-industry","tag-the-fact","tag-the-incident","tag-the-interview","tag-the-kid","tag-the-matter","tag-the-men","tag-the-moment","tag-the-one-side","tag-the-player","tag-the-promotion","tag-the-revelations","tag-the-timing","tag-three-really-big-issues","tag-thumb","tag-trans","tag-usman-khawaja","tag-ussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961773","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=961773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/961774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=961773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=961773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=961773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}