As Australia prepares to make its return to South Africa for a Test series this Friday – the first visit since the 2018 Sandpapergate ball-tampering scandal rocked international cricket – captain Pat Cummins has moved to dismiss growing speculation over revelations that might emerge from former teammate Usman Khawaja’s upcoming autobiography.
Khawaja, who featured in all four Tests of Australia’s 2018 tour and retired from international cricket earlier this year, is set to release his memoir in November. Cummins confirmed that Khawaja reached out to him weeks ago to inform him of the upcoming publication, offering only a brief heads-up with no additional details on what the book will cover.
“Uz gave me a buzz a few weeks back that he is releasing a book,” Cummins told reporters. “He didn’t go into too much detail, just basically gave me the heads-up that he is doing a book and, as always, no worries. Tell your story. It’s fine. It’s obviously a long time ago and all the investigations, everything was done back then and we answered every question a million times. It was dealt with then and all I can say is that as a group, we have moved on.”
The 2018 scandal broke when Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera rubbing sandpaper on the match ball during the third Test in Cape Town, in a deliberate attempt to alter its condition to gain a bowling advantage. Then-captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner took responsibility for plotting the scheme, and all three players received lengthy international bans from Cricket Australia.
What has kept speculation alive for eight years, however, is the lingering question of why four star Australian bowlers who played in that match – current captain Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon – have repeatedly denied any prior knowledge of the plan. Critics have questioned how four professional bowlers, whose entire strategy revolves around the condition of the ball, failed to notice the tampering taking place. The question gained new traction in 2021, when Bancroft hinted in an interview with *The Guardian* that knowledge of the plot was more widespread than the official narrative acknowledged, answering “It’s pretty probably self-explanatory” when asked if the bowlers knew of the plan.
Within days of that interview, the four bowlers released a joint public statement reaffirming their original account. “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,” the 2021 statement read. They also noted that even the match’s two experienced on-field umpires failed to detect any damage to the ball after the scandal broke, and did not opt to replace it, calling for an end to ongoing rumors and innuendo.
Eight years on, as the quartet prepare to take the field together again for the opening Test in Durban, Cummins maintains there is nothing new to be uncovered from the 2018 incident. “It’s a long time ago, it’s nothing new,” Cummins told Australian broadcaster ABC on Thursday. “We’ve spoken about it a little bit. If the crowd gets rowdy or whatever, if someone needs an extra helping hand, we’re around. To be honest, it’s so long ago and we, as a group, move on from things pretty quickly. It hasn’t taken up too much of our time.” Teammate Mitchell Starc echoed that sentiment earlier this week, asking: “What’s left to come out after eight years?”
Beyond the lingering fallout from Sandpapergate, the series marks the start of a grueling year of high-profile away Test matches for Australia. Fresh off a competitive home series against New Zealand, Cummins’ side will next travel to India before defending their Ashes title in England in 2025. This week, Australia dealt with a late setback after all-rounder Cameron Green was ruled out of the opening Test with an injury, leaving selectors to choose between Cooper Connolly and Nic Maddinson to fill the vacant middle-order spot.
For hosts South Africa, pitch conditions in Durban have shaped their squad selection: with the surface expected to take significant spin, the Proteas have named two specialist spinners – Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer – in their starting XI for the opening match.