Usman Khawaja remained silent for eight years. Why did he speak out now?

In his new memoir titled Sabr, former Australian batter Usman Khawaja has made revelations regarding the 2018 ball-tampering scandal during the tour of South Africa. According to The Indian Express, Khawaja claimed that the entire Australian contingent, including players and staff, was aware of the sandpaper tactic. He stated that discussions regarding the use of sandpaper as an effective tool began during the second Test in Port Elizabeth at St George's Park, rather than only during the third Test in Cape Town.

Khawaja told The Sydney Morning Herald that the group's knowledge was universal, stating, "It was all of us. Not the batters, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us." The memoir notes that during the discussions in Port Elizabeth, then-captain Steve Smith reportedly indicated he did not want to be involved. While Steve Smith, David Warner, and Cameron Bancroft were the individuals identified as casualties of the controversy, Khawaja expressed that he did not initially want to be the person to speak about the truth.

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age both suggest that Cricket Australia and its Test players may eventually look back on their 2018 failure to provide an honest and broad account of what occurred during the Newlands tour.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Indian Express — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.