Warner backs Khawaja’s Sandpapergate account, calls Cricket Australia probe ‘rushed and botched’

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — David Warner has supported an account of the so-called Sandpapergate cheating scandal implicating the entire team in the episode that rocked Australian cricket in 2018 and led to the lengthy suspensions for him, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft.

Days after excerpts of a soon-to-be-released book written by his Australia teammate Usman Khawaja implied the three players suspended in the Cape Town ball-tampering episode were scapegoats for the team, Warner posted on a video on Instagram Monday saying: “It’s 100% accurate what you’ve said.”

“It’s been eight years since I spoke on this topic. Uzzy, I throw my full support behind you. I thank you for what you’ve done,” Warner said in the video. “Now everyone knows the truth. It’s out there. People wanted to know it. You’ve come out and said it.

“It’s been a tough time for my family (and), Steven and Cameron, no doubt. But this is what needed to come out. I fully support that, Uzzy.”

For eight years, Cricket Australia, team management and other players have rejected claims that everyone was in on the plot to use sandpaper to scuff the ball to make it swing unconventionally through the air during a test against South Africa at Cape Town.

The host broadcaster filmed evidence of Bancroft using sandpaper on the ball during the match. The resulting scandal engulfed the series, generated global headlines and resulted in the harshest penalties ever imposed for ball tampering in international cricket.

Bancroft was suspended by Cricket Australia for nine months. Smith and Warner, then the captain and vice-captain of the test team, were suspended from all cricket for a year.

After making emotional apologies to the Australian public on returning home from South Africa, the three suspended players rarely spoke publicly of the investigation. Smith and Warner made successful returns to the Australian team in 2019.

On Monday, Warner said the Cricket Australia investigation into the ball-tampering scandal in 2018 was “rushed and botched.”

Khawaja, who was playing in the test match, said he’d wanted the entire team to take responsibility but was advised against it. He retired from international cricket in January and said he’d promised Warner, his childhood friend, that “I would tell the truth.”

Khawaja’s recounting of the episode generated a diverse reaction in Australia. Some supported his decision to publish his version of events, albeit eight years later, and others were critical of the timing.

Warner, in a message with his video post, wrote “some things are bigger than cricket.”

“This isn’t about reopening old wounds. It’s about acknowledging that some wounds never properly healed,” Warner wrote. “I stand with my brother Usman Khawaja. Speaking your truth takes courage, especially when people would rather you stay silent. Time passing doesn’t replace accountability, and asking questions shouldn’t be mistaken for holding grudges.”

Warner, who retired from cricket’s traditional format in 2024 with 112 test caps, said he decided to comment now after talking to his young daughters over recent days about what transpired in that match and later.

“Perhaps it’s time people stop scrutinizing the person asking for accountability, and start asking those responsible for the investigation to provide it.”

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