Warner has claimed that Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon were not interviewed

Andrew McGlashan

Published: Nov 14, 2026, 4:29 AM (2 hrs ago)

2:58

Cummins: Usman is a friend but this is not what friends do

David Warner has accused Cricket Australia (CA) of a "cover up" in their investigation of the 2018 sandpaper scandal.

In a further escalation of the saga that is threatening to tear the 2018 generation of Australian cricket apart, Warner followed his comment yesterday that Pat Cummins had thrown Usman Khawaja "under the bus" during his long press conference in Sydney by claiming that Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon were not interviewed for the immediate investigation into the Newlands ball tampering.

"As far as I am aware, CA did not interview Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc or Nathan Lyon in their 2018 investigation," Warner posted on Instagram on Saturday afternoon. "If that's correct, then how can CA push the idea that the bowlers didn't know?

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"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."

In response to Warner's claims, a CA spokesperson said: "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.

"Subsequently, CA has respected every player and former players right to provide their own version of events."

The statement did not say whether the three bowlers had been interviewed.

Over the past week, CA has not publicly backed one side or other of the vastly different views that have emerged.

Todd Greenberg, the CA CEO, has said that they do not see any grounds for re-opening the investigation or launching a new one with Cummins relaying the same from a conversation.

"I don't like to break confidences, but I'm sure he [Greenberg] won't mind me saying, he obviously knew the book was going to come out, he revisited all the transcripts, [and said] they've been very consistent, and none of it warrants reopening it," Cummins said.

In his statement at the start of his 68-minute press conference on Friday, Cummins said that if Khawaja meant that all players knew sandpaper was going out onto the field that he was "100% wrong".

"I've said that consistently for the last eight years. I did not know that was happening," he said. "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.

"I was genuinely shocked this week when I found out that Usman admitted that he told Cam [Cameron Bancroft] to be careful when using sandpaper. That's not the Usman that I know. It's not the Usman that has been part of a team that's helped rebuild the Australian cricket culture over the last eight years. And, you know, the Usman that would have stopped that from happening there and then.

"Usman is a friend, but friends aren't casual with each other's lives and reputations. In his book, Uzzy's being casual with my life and the lives of many others and I think Australian cricket."

Speaking on the broadc ast of the first ODI in Perth yesterday, Warner said: "Pat Cummins was very well prepared this morning. I still stick by Uzzy and what he's written in that book. It's the truth, and I really support him. I actually feel for him at the moment. I actually feel that the captain today actually threw Uzzy under the bus, and I'm very, very disappointed about that."

Earlier in the week, Starc stood by the joint statement the frontline bowlers had signed in 2021 saying they did not know any foreign objects were being taken onto the field at Newlands.

The claims in Khawaja's book have brought the second Test at Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha) under scrutiny with him writing about how Bancroft picked the ball up near the boundary when it was left by the umpires and used sandpaper on it.

"That was news to me this week," Cummins said. "I had no idea. You know, even chatting with a couple of the guys, that was a revelation to us. That was one of the things that really surprised me because that isn't happening anymore. The umpires give the ball out to you in the middle.

"I remember growing up, we used to watch for the umpire dropping the ball. But I genuinely don't remember that being the case. I don't know when that stopped. So that was a revelation to me this week."

Meanwhile, Marnus Labuschagne, who was not in the squad at the time of the 2018 tour of South Africa, has said it is "not nice" to see what the game is currently going through.

"I don't think it's good. I mean, it's certainly not nice to see where everything's at the moment," he said after Queensland victory over Tasmania in the Sheffield Shield. "As you said, Usman's written his book, and obviously Pat's then replied to some of the allegations and things in there. I wasn't part of that time period. I wasn't there when that was going on. I was here playing for Queensland. But like I said, I don't think anyone's enjoying seeing where it's all at the moment."

Khawaja was due to make an appearance at a book-signing event in Merrylands on Saturday, but AAP reported that publishers Penguin said it had to be postponed. An interview with the Grade Cricketer podcast was also pushed back from Sunday until Thursday.

It is understood that Bancroft is still weighing up whether to talk publicly. Steven Smith is due to arrive back in Australia from New York next week.

Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at Cricinfo