{
  "id": 18689547,
  "title": "Usman Khawaja claims entire Australia team knew about sandpaper ball-tampering",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/07/usman-khawaja-claims-entire-australia-team-knew-about-sandpaper-ball-18689547",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-07T09:52:19.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The National UAE",
    "slug": "the-national-uae",
    "url": "https://www.thenationalnews.com/sport/cricket/2026/11/07/usman-khawaja-claims-entire-australia-team-knew-about-sandpaper-ball-tampering/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Former Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja has made a startling revelation in his new autobiography, claiming that the entire Australian team was aware of the sandpaper ball-tampering scandal during the 2018 series against South Africa. In his book \"Sabr,\" Khawaja stated, \"It was all of us. Not the batters, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us.\" The scandal, known as \"Sandpapergate,\" resulted in bans for captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner, and bowler Cameron Bancroft.",
  "summary": "Usman Khawaja has brought the 2018 Australian ball-tampering scandal back into the news after claiming the whole team knew that the cheating was going on during the series against South Africa. In his new autobiography, the former Australian opener also insisted that the tactic had been used before the match in Cape Town, when television cameras caught Cameron Bancroft using sandpaper on the ball…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}