Pat Cummins hits back at Usman Khawaja’s ball-tampering claims, calls them 'complete and utter nonsense'

Australia Test captain Pat Cummins has strongly rejected Usman Khawaja’s explosive ball-tampering allegations, describing claims that senior players were involved in orchestrating the 2018 Cape Town scandal as "complete and utter nonsense".

Cummins broke his silence on Friday during a 70-minute press conference at Cricket NSW’s headquarters in Silverwater, following revelations in Khawaja’s memoir Sabr. The Australian skipper, who was playing his 13th Test when the infamous Cape Town incident took place in 2018, denied having any prior knowledge of the use of sandpaper during the match against South Africa.

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"When he says we all knew, if that he means we knew sandpaper was going out on the field, he's 100% wrong. I said that consistently for the last eight years. I did not know that was happening," Cummins told reporters.

However, the 33-year-old took particular exception to Khawaja's suggestion that he and other senior players were the architects of a ball-tampering scheme. "He says that I and others were architects of a scheme to ball tamper with sandpaper. That's complete and utter nonsense," he added.

Pat Cummins questions Usman Khawaja’s account of 2018 ball-tampering scandal

In his memoir, Khawaja claimed that the entire Australian team was aware of the ball-tampering attempts and argued that Cameron Bancroft, Steve Smith and David Warner should not have been the only players punished for the incident.

Cummins also expressed surprise over Khawaja's admission that he had warned Bancroft to be careful while using sandpaper during the Cape Town Test. "I was genuinely shocked this week when I found out that Usman admitted that he told Cam to be careful when using sandpaper (in Cape Town)," Cummins said.

He further questioned how Khawaja had presented the events in his book, pointing out that the allegations had affected the reputations of several people associated with Australian cricket. "Usman’s a friend, but friends aren’t casual with each other’s lives and reputations. In his book, Uzzie has been casual with my life, and the lives of many others, and I think Australian cricket," he said.

While acknowledging Khawaja's right to share his experiences, Cummins stressed that people should also be accountable for their statements. "I support his right to tell a story 100%. I'm really glad that he feels like he can, but we have to be accountable for the things that we say and do," he added.

Cummins also acknowledged that the Australian dressing room culture before the Cape Town scandal was far from ideal. He admitted that the team had a win-at-all-costs mentality and an ugly underbelly, with divisions within the dressing room.

Reflecting on his early days in the Test side, Cummins said he was uncomfortable with the team's behaviour on the field, particularly its interactions with umpires and opposition players. "I thought the way we acted on the field was quite abrasive. Didn't like some of the way we spoke to umpires, the opposition. I think there was a bit of an arrogance and a bit of an ugliness at times that just didn't really sit well with me as a young guy," he said.

The Australian captain added that changing the team's culture had been one of his priorities since taking charge. "Now that I'm captain, I've spent a lot of time making sure that that's not the case with this current Aussie team, and I think we've been absolutely brilliant since 2018," Cummins added.

Cummins dismisses Khawaja’s port Elizabeth ball-tampering allegation

Khawaja also alleged that Australia had used sandpaper on the ball during the second Test against South Africa in Port Elizabeth in 2018, before the infamous Cape Town incident.

However, Cummins dismissed the claim, saying he had no knowledge of any such incident and was surprised by the revelation. "That was news to me this week. I had no idea. Even chatting with a couple of guys, that was a revelation to us," he said.

Cummins further explained that he did not remember the alleged practice of players receiving the ball near the boundary at the beginning of a session, adding that the procedure had changed over the years.

The Australia captain also recalled one instance of illegal ball tampering that he had witnessed during a Sheffield Shield match. Without identifying the player involved, Cummins revealed that a senior batter had taken a bottle cap onto the field. "It was a batter, it was a senior player, I won't mention him, but he took a bottle cap out on the field. That was the one time I've seen it on the field," he said.

He added that the umpires had intervened and instructed the player to stop the practice immediately. Meanwhile, Cummins said any decision on reopening the investigation into the 2018 ball-tampering scandal rested with Cricket Australia. However, chief executive Todd Greenberg had earlier indicated that the governing body would not reopen the probe.