Pat Cummins calls Usman Khawaja’s Sandpapergate revelations ‘complete and utter nonsense’ in fiery press conference

Luke BakerThu, November 12, 2026 at 11:21 PM UTC

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Pat Cummins has totally dismissed Usman Khawaja’s new accusations over the Sandpapergate scandal, slamming them as “complete and utter nonsense” during a fiery press conference in Sydney.

Former Australia batter Khawaja has published a new autobiography Sabr and reopened old wounds surrounding the 2018 ball-tampering allegations during the Test series against South Africa, claiming that knowledge of the sandpaper plot was widespread within the team and coaching staff, even though only Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were ultimately punished.

Khawaja also gave an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald where he said blame was shared by “all of us”, insisted that his calls for collective responsibility were shot down by certain team-mates and also suggested that tampering had been going on prior to the Cape Town Test where Bancroft’s cheating was exposed.

Pat Cummins didn’t hold back in his dismissal of Usman Khawaja’s claims (Getty)

These claims have caused speculation anew over the bowlers who benefitted from the ball manipulation – a group including Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon, who have always distanced themselves from the episode, with an incredibly carefully-worded statement from the quartet in 2021 denying knowing that a foreign substance had been taken on to the field to alter the ball that day.

Cummins – who is the current Australia captain but is being rested from the current white-ball series against England – called a press conference in Sydney on Friday morning and invited the press to grill him over the Sandpapergate situation.

The 33-year-old didn’t hold back as he immediately shot down Khawaja’s claims in explosive fashion, labelling them as “complete and utter nonsense”.

Cummins spoke at length about the accusations (Getty)

“I was genuinely shocked this week when I found that Usman admitted that he told Cam to be careful when using sandpaper,” insisted Cummins. “That is not the Usman that I know and not the Usman that has been part of a team that helped rebuild Australian cricket culture over the last eight years.

“When he says we all knew, if by that he means we knew sandpaper was going out on the field, he is 100 per cent wrong. I have said that consistently for the last eight years, I did not know that was happening.

“But I think Usman actually says things that were far more serious than that. He says that I and others were architects of a scheme to ball-tamper with sandpaper. That is complete and utter nonsense.

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“Usman is a friend, but friends aren't casual with each other's lives and reputations. In his book, Usman is being casual with my life and the lives of many others in Australian cricket. I support his right to tell his story, but we have to be accountable for the things we say and do.”

Cummins did admit that the Australia team at the time had a “win-at-all-costs mentality and an ugly underbelly” but when asked to clarify if he had any knowledge of sandpaper being used, he said: “I did not know that was happening.”

The Australia captain had invited the media to give him a grilling (Getty)

“There was no masterplan around using illegal methods,” he added. “I think that’s maybe something that hasn’t been spoken about enough. People assume you have gone from very legal methods to suddenly taking sandpaper and then there must have been some huge master plan. That is not the case.

“There’s no grand plan, there’s no team meeting, there’s no bowlers saying ‘this is what must happen’.”

The skipper was also asked how the ball looked at the time and was adamant that he didn’t notice anything untoward.

“At that stage, you know, even the umpires had a look. We didn’t know it had been altered with sandpaper,” added Cummins.

“Balls get roughened up every time we play. So, you know, whether that’s from a foreign object or something that’s totally legal and part of the game. Sometimes it’s hard to know. But out there in the field I did not see anything on the ball.”

Usman Khawaja made explosive allegations about Sandpapergate (Getty)

Cummins also expressed frustration at the issue being re-litigated now, more than eight years after it happened.

“It’s 8.5 years, we have moved on,” he explained. “We’ll keep saying it, but again these are people’s lives. It was traumatic for some of them. Like, they have had to work through quite a bit to get out the other side.

“So again that’s why I’m really disappointed and frustrated this week... How it’s been dealt with so flippantly.”

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Source: “AOL Sports”