David Warner claimed in a social media statement that Cricket Australia did not interview Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, or Nathan Lyon during the 2018 ball-tampering investigation, as reported by nine.com.au and ABC News.
That assertion was immediately disputed by sources connected to the bowling group. According to two sources with knowledge of the matter cited by nine.com.au, those three bowlers were indeed interviewed alongside then-captain Pat Cummins.
“As far as I am aware, CA did not interview Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc or Nathan Lyon,” Warner wrote on Instagram, according to nine.com.au and Fox Sports. “If that’s correct, then how can CA push the idea that the bowlers didn’t know?”
Cricket Australia responded to the fresh allegations by defending the scope of their initial inquiry and subsequent opportunities for players to speak.
“As we have stated previously, all players were given the opportunity to speak at the time of the initial investigation and have had the ability to come forward with new evidence in the eight years since,” a Cricket Australia spokesperson said, as reported by nine.com.au and ABC News.
Khawaja Alleges Team Knew of Ball Tampering Plan
The renewed scrutiny follows claims made by Usman Khawaja in his newly published autobiography, Sabr, where he argued that the Australian Test team was aware of a plan to tamper with the ball during the 2018 Cape Town Test, according to nine.com.au and Fox Sports.
Khawaja wrote in his book that he was waiting for his phone to ring to be interviewed by investigators, but the call never came, nine.com.au reported.
Test captain Pat Cummins strongly rejected Khawaja’s claims during a 70-minute press conference, stating that if Khawaja meant the team knew sandpaper was going onto the field, he was entirely wrong, according to The Guardian.
Following Cummins’ denials, Warner accused the captain of throwing Khawaja under the bus, telling Fox Sports that he fully supported Khawaja’s version of events.
Independent Culture Review Findings
Cricket Australia also engaged The Ethics Centre executive director Dr Simon Longstaff to conduct an independent investigation into team and corporate culture, nine.com.au reported.
Longstaff spoke with current and former players, sponsors, and staff, noting he heard whispers that more people knew about ball tampering than the three players sanctioned in 2018, according to nine.com.au.
“When we came to look into that – because I couldn’t turn a blind eye to it once the suggestion was made – I afforded the senior people I spoke with an opportunity … ‘Well, is there something else you want to say about the whole circumstance?’” Longstaff told Nine’s Weekend Today on Saturday, as cited by nine.com.au.
Sandpaper Scandal Questions Answered
Were Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, and Nathan Lyon interviewed in 2018?
David Warner claimed they were not interviewed, but two sources with knowledge of the matter told nine.com.au and ABC News that all three front-line bowlers were indeed spoken to by investigators.
What penalties were handed down after the 2018 Cape Town Test?
Cricket Australia suspended Steve Smith and David Warner for one year and banned Cameron Bancroft for nine months following the initial investigation, as reported by nine.com.au and Fox Sports.
What did Usman Khawaja claim in his book?
In his autobiography Sabr, Khawaja asserted that the wider Australian Test team was aware of plans to use sandpaper on the ball, expressing frustration that he was never interviewed by investigators, according to nine.com.au.
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