Former Australian opener accuses Cricket Australia of orchestrating cover-up

Former Australia opener David Warner yesterday accused Cricket Australia (CA) of orchestrating a cover-up in its Sandpapergate investigation, alleging the governing body ignored key witnesses while seeking to pin blame on three players.

Former Australia batter Usman Khawaja, whose autobiography was published on Tuesday, said last weekend that all the players in the team at Newlands knew about the plot, triggering calls for a new investigation into the incident.

Warner questioned whether fast bowlers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, as well as spinner Nathan Lyon, had been formally interviewed as part of CA’s inquiry, which resulted in lengthy bans for Warner, then-captain Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft.

“As far as I am aware, CA did not interview Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc or Nathan Lyon in their 2018 investigation,” Warner said on Instagram.

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

—  David Warner, former Australia opener

“If that’s correct then how can CA push the idea that the bowlers didn’t know?”

The 40-year-old, who earlier this week accused CA of conducting a “rushed” and “botched” probe that found the three punished players solely responsible for the plot, said the governing body had decided from the outset who would take responsibility for the scandal.

‘Shoddy investigation’

“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,” Warner said.

The four bowlers who played in the Cape Town Test against South Africa in 2018 — Starc, Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Lyon — issued a joint statement in 2021 denying any knowledge of the ball-tampering plan.

Starc again denied any prior knowledge of the incident on Tuesday, while Australia captain Cummins on Friday dismissed suggestions of his involvement, describing the allegations as “utter nonsense”.

CA CEO Todd Greenberg ruled out reopening the investigation into the Sandpapergate scandal on Tuesday.

Khawaja, meanwhile, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s programme, 7:30, earlier this week that he hoped other teammates would speak honestly about the 2018 saga but he was not forcing anyone to do anything, nor calling on CA to reinvestigate.