David Warner has accused Australia’s Test captain Pat Cummins of throwing Usman Khawaja ‘under the bus’ in the latest dispute over the 2018 Sandpapergate scandal, while revealing the devastating impact the controversy had on his family.
Cummins earlier on Friday rejected Khawaja’s claim that the entire Australian team knew sandpaper would be used during the Test against South Africa in Cape Town. He branded the allegation ‘complete and utter nonsense’ and accused Khawaja of treating people’s lives and reputations too casually.
Speaking during a press conference in Sydney that ran for more than an hour, Cummins said there had been no team meeting about collective responsibility and no ‘masterplan’ to use illegal methods to alter the ball.
Warner came to the defence of his childhood friend Khawaja while working as a Fox Cricket commentator before Australia’s one-day international against England at Perth’s Optus Stadium on Friday.
The former opener also detailed the personal cost of the scandal, saying he and his wife Candice had suffered the greatest consequences and linking the intense pressure of the period to her miscarriage.
‘Yes, we accepted it, but at the end of the day my wife and I paid the greatest price. We lost a baby during that time, and that is why it still hurts me the most until the truth is accepted.’
‘Pat Cummins was very well prepared this morning, but I still stand by what Uzzie wrote in that book. It is the truth,’ he said.
‘I support him [Usman], and I genuinely feel for him at the moment.’
David Warner accused Australia Test captain Pat Cummins of throwing Usman Khawaja ‘under the bus’ while commentating for Fox Cricket on Friday
David Warner and his wife Candice lost their unborn child a week after returning home from South Africa following the Sandpapergate scandal
‘I feel the captain threw Uzzie under the bus today, and I am extremely disappointed.’
Warner, former captain Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft all received lengthy bans from Cricket Australia for their roles in the ball-tampering scandal.
‘The three of us have paid a huge price. I had not spoken about it for eight years, but we have to live with these consequences every day. We have effectively been given a life sentence.
‘When other people talk about being affected by it, nothing compares with what Steve, Cameron and I experience when we walk out there every day and face the abuse.’
Warner said he had spoken with Khawaja and Bancroft, and claimed both were ‘quite upset’ by the latest developments.
‘In the eight years since, not one of those people in that changeroom has spoken to us about it. The mateship and honesty we talk about have not extended to any contact or questions over what happened.
‘We are all adults and open to having a conversation. I have played golf with Pat Cummins a couple of times, shared changerooms with him and won two World Cups, yet it has never been questioned.’
David Warner said he and his wife Candice paid the heaviest personal price in the aftermath of Sandpapergate
Warner responded to Cummins’ claims while commentating for Fox Cricket on Friday
‘At the end of the day, Pat is not going to agree with me, and I am not going to agree with him. He has spoken about what he believes Usman wrote in the book, but I stand by Uzzie’s comments.’
Fox Cricket co-commentator and Australian great Adam Gilchrist asked Warner whether Cricket Australia should launch another investigation.
‘It is difficult because of the way it was handled initially. Going back and providing more evidence was always going to be challenging,’ Warner replied.
‘It felt like a rushed, botched investigation designed to get it over and done with. Some of the questions were framed in a very challenging way, and the three of us were left to accept responsibility and move on.’
Former England captain Michael Vaughan then asked Warner whether he had ‘absolute proof’ that more players knew about the sandpaper plan.
‘There will be conversations behind the scenes after all of this,’ Warner said.
Candice Warner previously revealed that she suffered a miscarriage a week after the couple returned to Sydney from South Africa following the scandal.
‘I woke up feeling very unwell. I called Dave into the bathroom and told him I was bleeding. We knew I was miscarrying, so we held each other and cried,’ she told Nine’s Now to Love at the time.
‘The miscarriage was a tragic consequence and a heartbreaking end to a horrific tour. Like so many families who have experienced miscarriage, it was incredibly sad. The public humiliation and the ball-tampering scandal had taken their toll, and from that moment we decided no sport, nothing, would ever affect our lives in that way again.
‘At the time, I felt I had let us down and that my body had failed us. But I have come a long way since then. I am a very spiritual person and truly believe it was not their time to be with us. Despite our terrible loss, I know without doubt that my calling in life is to be a mum.’
Australia Test captain Pat Cummins has responded to Usman Khawaja’s explosive claims about Sandpapergate
From left: Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Starc, the four bowlers who played in the Cape Town Test and deny knowing sandpaper was being taken onto the field
Khawaja and Cummins pictured together on the sidelines during a Test match in 2018
Cummins earlier reiterated a statement issued in 2021 alongside fellow bowlers Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon, in which they denied any knowledge of plans to tamper with the ball.
‘When Khawaja says we all knew, if he means we knew sandpaper was going out onto the field, he is 100 per cent wrong,’ Cummins told reporters.
‘I have said that consistently for the past eight years.
‘Usman says that I and others were architects of a scheme to tamper with the ball using sandpaper. That is complete and utter nonsense.
‘It is something I have been grappling with over the past couple of days. Usman is a friend, but the way he has been casual and flippant about people’s lives and reputations is not acceptable. I do not think that is what friends do.’
A reporter then asked: ‘So one of you is not telling the truth. Which one of you is not telling the truth?’
Cummins replied: ‘That is my story, so I think Khawaja is wrong.’ He added that he would not pursue legal action over the claims.