Australia’s 2018 ball-tampering scandal is back in the spotlight as the Test side returns to South Africa for the first time since the “Sandpapergate”, but captain Pat Cummins on Thursday dismissed suggestions that Usman Khawaja’s autobiography could trigger further fallout when it is published next month.
Australia’s 33-year-old Test skipper was one of the bowlers who played in the March 2018 Test at Cape Town where Australia was caught using sandpaper to scuff up one side of the ball in an illegal effort to produce prodigious swing.
It sparked a major crisis for Cricket Australia, but only captain Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, who was caught with the sandpaper in his pocket, were banned for their part in the scandal.
The bowling quartet of Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon denied any knowledge of the incident.
All four are back in South Africa for the three-Test series, the first in South Africa since the scandal, which starts at Kingsmead on Friday.
Cummins confirmed he has spoken with Khawaja, who was also in the Australian team at Newlands eight years ago.
“Didn’t go back into too much detail. He just basically gave me the heads-up that he’s doing a book, and yeah, as always, no worries. Tell your story. It’s fine,” Cummins said.
Australian media have reported that Khawaja had urged the team to take collective responsibility at the time of the scandal but the suggestion had been shot down.
Cummins said he did not know about the contents of the book.
“You need to ask him,” he said. “It’s obviously a long time ago. All the investigations, everything was done back then. Answered every question a million times. So, yeah, it was dealt with then. Now all I can say is, as a group, we moved on, very happy with the last eight years, how we’ve been as a group and evolved.”
South African broadcaster SuperSport, whose cameras caught the offending Australians, has poked some fun at the 2018 scandal with a clip on social media that shows Bancroft using the sandpaper on the ball and the Australia’s reaction after being caught red-handed eight years ago.
In the social media post, the broadcaster warned: “Our cameras will be sharp for this 3-match test series.”
Published on Oct 09, 2026
