Pat Cummins rejects Khawaja’s Sandpapergate allegations as ‘utter nonsense’

Résumé détaillé

Australia captain Pat Cummins hit back at former teammate Usman Khawaja’s claims over the 2018 sandpaper scandal in South ...

Australia captain Pat Cummins hit back at former teammate Usman Khawaja’s claims over the 2018 sandpaper scandal in South Africa.

Australia cricket captain Pat Cummins again denied any involvement in the plot to use sandpaper on the ball in a Test against South Africa in 2018, describing the allegations in Usman Khawaja’s autobiography as “utter nonsense”.

Former Australia batsman Khawaja, whose autobiography was published on Tuesday, 9 November, said last weekend that all the players in the team at Newlands knew about the plot, triggering calls for a new investigation into the incident.

“When he says we all knew, if by that he means that we knew sandpaper was going out in the field, he’s 100% wrong. I’ve said that consistently for the last eight years,” Cummins told a press conference in Sydney on Friday.

“I did not know that was happening, but I think Usman actually says things that are actually 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.

“There was no master plan around using illegal methods,” he added. “There’s no grand plan. There’s no team meeting. There’s no bowlers saying ‘this is what must happen’.”

The Australia skipper spoke for 68 minutes, taking every question from the media and saying he would never discuss the ball-tampering incident again.

Cummins also took exception to Pakistan-born Khawaja’s contention in the book that the colour of his skin and background had prevented him from becoming Australia captain.

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