David Warner claims CA did not interview three bowlers in 2018 sandpaper probe

"As far as I am aware, CA did not interview Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc or Nathan Lyon in their 2018 investigation. If that's correct, then how can CA push the idea that the bowlers didn't know? It looks like they had decided who they wanted to blame from the very beginning, ran a shoddy investigation to serve the purpose and now they want to maintain the false narrative that the bowlers had no idea. That stinks of a cover up."

David Warner, former Australia vice-captain, via Instagram

The allegation landed 24 hours after Pat Cummins, the current Test captain and the fourth member of that 2018 pace attack, delivered a 69-minute press conference in Sydney denying he knew sandpaper was being taken onto the field. Cummins called Usman Khawaja's claim in his new memoir Sabr that the whole team knew "100 per cent wrong" and "complete and utter nonsense".

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

Media additions

Pat Cummins, Australia Test captain, via press conference

Cummins also revealed he was "genuinely shocked" to learn this week from Khawaja's book that the former opener had told Bancroft to be careful when using sandpaper. Warner, speaking on Kayo Cricket during the ODI build-up in Perth, said Cummins had thrown Khawaja "under the bus" and declared he would "stick by Uzzy and what he's written in that book".

Conflicting accounts of the 2018 probe

Warner's claim that the three bowlers were not interviewed is directly contradicted by The Sydney Morning Herald, which reported on Saturday that two sources with knowledge of the matter confirmed Hazlewood, Starc and Lyon were spoken to by Roy. The masthead said it had reached out to representatives of the three players for comment. Cricket Australia's official response did not address the specific question. A spokesperson repeated the organisation's standard line: "As we have stated previously, all players were given the opportunity to speak at the time of the initial investigation and have had the ability to come forward with new evidence in the eight years since. Subsequently, CA has respected every player and former players' right to provide their own version of events." The discrepancy leaves a factual dispute at the centre of the renewed controversy. If Warner is correct, the investigation that sanctioned only him, Steve Smith and Bancroft did not formally question the three specialist bowlers who would have handled the ball most frequently. If the Herald's sources are correct, Warner's memory — or his characterisation — is faulty.

Source	Claim about 2018 interviews	Attribution
David Warner (Instagram)	Hazlewood, Starc, Lyon not interviewed by CA	"As far as I am aware"
The Sydney Morning Herald	Hazlewood, Starc, Lyon were interviewed by Iain Roy	Two anonymous sources with knowledge of the matter
Cricket Australia statement	All players "given the opportunity to speak", no confirmation or denial of specific interviews	CA spokesperson

Longstaff review heard 'whispers' but hit a 'blank wall'

Running parallel to Roy's integrity investigation in 2018, Cricket Australia engaged Dr Simon Longstaff of The Ethics Centre to conduct a broader cultural review. Speaking on Nine's Weekend Today on Saturday, Longstaff said he heard "whispers" during his inquiry that more people knew about ball-tampering than the three sanctioned players, and that the practice pre-dated Cape Town.

"Along the way there were whispers, and I can't put it any more strongly than that, that something else had gone on earlier and that more people had known. When we came to look into that ... I afforded the senior people I spoke with an opportunity ... 'Well, is there something else you want to say about the whole circumstance?' Nobody chose to make any alteration to their statement, so I was left with basically a blank wall."

Dr Simon Longstaff, The Ethics Centre, via Nine

Longstaff said some invited figures declined to participate in his review, which operated under strict confidentiality. He could not recall whether Khawaja was directly invited but said all had the liberty to come forward. Longstaff described Cummins's Friday press conference as "absolutely convincing in his sincerity" but noted the contradiction with Khawaja's account leaves a question: "Was it that many other people did know, if not Cummins? And is Khawaja being sincere in his belief ... That if not everybody, there was a considerably larger number (that knew). Now we just don't know."

Khawaja's memoir the catalyst

The latest flare-up began with the release of Khawaja's autobiography Sabr. In it, he wrote he was "waiting for (his) phone to ring" to be interviewed by CA and believed he was excluded because he advocated for collective responsibility. "I thoroughly feel that I didn't get interviewed because of that, because they knew that I wanted to take it as a team, because they knew I was ready to tell the truth if I was interviewed," Khawaja wrote. "And I was waiting for my phone to ring. It just never rang, and then the penalties were given, and I couldn't believe it." Khawaja had been scheduled to appear on The Grade Cricketer podcast on Sunday and at a book-signing in Merrylands on Saturday; both were postponed. He is still listed to play in a T20 exhibition match in Cairns on November 22 alongside Brian Lara, Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey.

CA rules out reopening; former players weigh in

Chief executive Todd Greenberg ruled out reopening the investigation on Tuesday, a position reiterated after Warner's Saturday post. The 2021 joint statement from Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood and Lyon, released after Bancroft's interview with The Guardian, remains the bowlers' collective public position. It read in part: "We did not know a foreign substance was taken onto the field to alter the condition of the ball until we saw the images on the big screen at Newlands ... And to those who, despite the absence of evidence, insist that 'we must have known' about the use of a foreign substance simply because we are bowlers, we say this: The umpires during that Test match, Nigel Llong and Richard Illingworth, both very respected and experienced umpires, inspected the ball after the images surfaced on the TV coverage and did not change it because there was no sign of damage." Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram, based in Melbourne, backed Cummins on Saturday. "As a bowler, when the cricket ball comes in my hand ... The sandpaper scratch is totally different than the one-bounce scratch," Akram said on X. "Australians are known and famous for their straightforwardness, hardness on the field, off the field, and, most importantly, honesty." Greg Chappell urged an end to the infighting. "We don't want to see Australian cricket eating itself and having a little spat within the family," Chappell said. "Hopefully Pat's put a bit of a line under it and we can start getting on with the summer of cricket."

What happens next

• Khawaja's media tour resumes: The postponed podcast and book-signing are expected to proceed later this week; his next public comments will be closely parsed.
• Bowlers' response: Hazlewood and Lyon have not spoken publicly since Warner's claim. Starc said during the week "we weren't aware of things being taken on the field".
• Steve Smith's silence: The former captain has not commented since the controversy reignited last weekend.
• CA's position holds: Greenberg has closed the door on a new investigation; the organisation is banking on the passage of time and the start of the home summer to shift focus.

For now, the 2018 generation remains fractured. Warner and Khawaja on one side; Cummins, backed by the 2021 joint statement and Longstaff's assessment of his sincerity, on the other. The factual dispute over whether three bowlers were interviewed in 2018 may never be resolved to everyone's satisfaction, but it has ensured that a scandal Australian cricket hoped was buried will remain exhumed for the foreseeable future.