'Wrong' and 'nonsense' - Cummins on Khawaja sandpaper claims

Australia captain Pat Cummins has responded to allegations made in Usman Khawaja’s autobiography, Sabr, regarding the 2018 "Sandpapergate" incident in Cape Town. Khawaja claimed that the entire Australian team on the 2018 South Africa tour was aware of the sandpaper use, rather than just the three implicated players. According to Yahoo Sports, the official position from Cricket Australia has maintained that only Steve Smith, David Warner, and Cameron Bancroft had knowledge of the plan.

Cummins described Khawaja's claims as "100% wrong" and "utter nonsense," according to BBC Sport. The Guardian reports that Cummins stated he was "genuinely shocked" by the comments and has consistently maintained for eight years that he did not know the incident was happening. He further rejected Khawaja's suggestion that he and others were architects of a scheme to ball-tamper.

The Guardian notes that Cummins believes the book has been "casual" with the lives of others and characterized the revelations as "irresponsible," adding that the incident was traumatic for some. Regarding the investigation into the matter, Cummins told The Guardian Australia that he believes there was a "proper way to do things" and pointed to the Cricket Australia investigation conducted shortly after the event.

He added that while there may have been conversations with Cameron Bancroft regarding taking sandpaper out, that does not mean everyone in the dressing room was aware of what was occurring.

Brief written by urgent.news from BBC Sport, Yahoo Sports, The Guardian Australia, The Guardian, ESPNcricinfo — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.