Adelaide [Australia], November 15 (ANI): Former Australian cricketer Chadd Sayers has contradicted some of skipper Pat Cummins' claims in his recent presser on batter Usman Khawaja's fresh 2018 ball-tampering scandal during the tour to South Africa, saying that "everyone in the side knew what was going on and what was being used".
Cummins has denied Khawaja's bombshell 2018 Sandpaper Gate revelations made in his autobiography titled 'Sabr' and the effect it has had on him and the Australian cricketing fraternity. He still addressed Khawaja as a friend; he called him out for his "utter nonsense" claims and for being "casual and flippant" with his story, causing harm to the reputations and lives of his teammates.
Now, responding to those claims, Sayers, who played in the Johannesburg Test of that tour, said, as quoted by SEN Cricket, "I am comfortable sitting here right now, and where I stand on the situation, that I believe that everyone in that side knew what was going on and what was being used."
"I think I have probably been portrayed in the media as taking Usman's side because I have spoken out and acknowledged that that was probably the truth, but I am neutral in all this. I am just trying to tell my side of the story and what I believe happened...In Port Elizabeth. As it is known now, it was used in two Test matches, and there were discussions in the changing rooms about how we were going to get the ball to reverse, and what was going to be used," he added.
"I just knew that it was going to be used, as I believe everyone else did. I guess the plan was that Cameron Bancroft was going to take that out, the ball was going to be dropped on the ground by the umpires and he was going to go about his business … [the sandpaper] was given to me to take off, so that was not planned or anything, I was just the player who took the drinks out at the time," he added.
On whether the group sat together to have a conversation around the collective responsibility, he said, "Yes, after the occurrence in Cape Town, we all sat in the change rooms after that day's play and probably for 60 to 90 minutes. We talked about what had happened, and I guess where to next," he added.
Sayers played the 4th Test against South Africa at Johannesburg (March 30 – April 3, 2018), coming into the side as a replacement for the injured Mitchell Starc following the 2018 Cape Town ball-tampering scandal.
Khawaja also made some shocking, never-heard-before revelations of Aussies using sandpaper during the 2018 SA series' second Test at Gqeberha as well, before they were eventually caught in Cape Town during the third Test.
He also spoke about how Aussies altered the condition of the ball during the 2017/18 Ashes series at home by lifting the quarter-seam of the cricket ball.
Speaking during the presser at Sydney's Cricket Central, Cummins said, as quoted by Fox Sports, that Khawaja's claims that everyone, including the bowling quartet of Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon, were aware of sandpaper being brought to the field were 100 per cent wrong.
"When he says we all knew, if that he means we knew sandpaper was going out on the field, he is 100% wrong," Cummins said,
"I said that consistently for the last eight years. I did not know that was happening. But I think Usman actually says things that are far more serious than that. He says that I and others were architects of a scheme to ball tamper with sandpaper. That's complete and utter nonsense," he continued.
After Cummins' presser, David Warner had questioned Cricket Australia's (CA) investigation into the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, alleging that the governing body may have conducted a flawed probe to maintain a narrative that the bowlers were unaware of the incident.
Warner had raised questions over the investigation while sharing a post on Instagram amid the ongoing controversy, claiming that Australian bowlers Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon were not interviewed during the 2018 investigation.
In 2021, the bowling quartet including Cummins had issued a statement that they were unaware of a foreign object being used on the ball.
"As far as I am aware, CA did not interview Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc or Nathan Lyon in their 2018 investigation. If that's correct, then how can CA push the idea that the bowlers didn't know? It looks like they had decided who they wanted to blame from the very beginning, ran a shoddy investigation to serve the purpose, and now they want to maintain the false narrative that the bowlers had no idea. That stinks of a cover-up," Warner had written, while sharing a post on Instagram.
Warner, who had come to Usman's support when the left-hander called for collective responsibility and revealed that everyone knew about the sandpaper being brought in. (ANI)
"Everyone knew what was going on": Aussie quick Sayers, 12th man in 2018 Sandpapergate test contradicts Cummins' claims
