‘We weren’t aware anything was taken on the field’
CA: no ‘compelling reason’ to establish new inquiry
Mitchell Starc has denied claims made in Usman Khawaja’s new book that more than the three players suspended for ball tampering had knowledge of the sandpaper plan in South Africa in 2018.
Starc became the first of the Australia bowling group who played in the 2018 Cape Town Test to speak out following the publication of Khawaja’s book on Tuesday.
The then captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and batter Cameron Bancroft were handed long bans following a short Cricket Australia investigation into the incident.
Khawaja alleged that more than those three players were aware of the team’s ball-tampering, including the use of sandpaper during the preceding Test, and that his calls for the players to take collective responsibility at the time were rebuffed.
Starc broke his silence to address Khawaja’s comments, saying he was not aware that sandpaper was used in the Test before Cape Town, nor during the Newlands match. The paceman said his recollection of the match had not changed from what the bowlers said in a statement issued in 2021, which denied all knowledge of the ball-tampering plan.
“As far as our statement said, we weren’t aware of things being taken on the field, that’s where I’ll leave it,” he said. “We weren’t aware anything was taken on to the field to be tampered with. We saw [the sandpaper] on the big screen in Cape Town.
“As far as the book is concerned, I haven’t read it. I probably won’t read it. So that’s for Usman to elaborate on.
“I’ll stick to what I said five years ago, what I said at the time, eight years ago. Clearly, there’s different versions from different people, and I’ll leave it where I left it back then.”
Earlier, Cricket Australia said it will not reopen its investigation into the controversy reignited by the release this week of Khawaja’s book.
Cricket Australia’s chief executive, Todd Greenberg, told SEN radio on Tuesday that there was not “any compelling reason” to revisit the investigation, even though there are “specific details” in Khawaja’s book “that contradict the versions that have been provided by others”.
Greenberg stepped into his role last year, but was chief executive of the Australian Cricketers’ Association in 2021 when Bancroft told the Guardian that he “lost control of [his] values”.
That interview triggered a response from Pat Cummins and his fellow bowlers in Cape Town that they had no knowledge of the ball-tampering.
Warner criticised the investigation when speaking on Monday, saying it was “rushed and botched”.
Greenberg said that establishing another inquiry into the events of 2018 would not benefit anyone.
“You end up at the same intersection where one person’s version of events contradict the others, and I’m not sure what outcome people are searching for,” he said.
“I think what people want is a single outcome that everyone is aligned up on, but I don’t think that’s possible on this occasion because we have such conflicting views from the same moment in time.”
Khawaji countered suggestions that he has sought to take advantage of the sandpaper controversy to sell books. “With all due respect guys, I played cricket for a long time, I’m very fortunate, I don’t need the money,” he said on Instagram. “This has never been about commercial gain.”
He said his publisher, Penguin Random House, and manager were not aware of his intention to cast new light on the events of 2018 when he signed the book deal in 2023, and he is unlikely to benefit financially from the controversy stirred by his account.
Beyond the ball tampering episode, in another chapter of his book, Khawaja says he was racially abused by a member of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) during the confrontation between Australia’s players and members in the Long Room at Lord’s during the 2023 Ashes Test.
Khawaja likened the behaviour of the members to “a pack of dogs about to feast on their next meals”, describing how spectators swore at the Australian players.
“They were in unison, swearing, calling us ‘Fing this’, and ‘Fing that’, ‘***** this’. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. At first I just laughed, mostly in shock,” he writes.
Tempers fared following the contentious dismissal of Jonny Bairstow, who was stumped by the Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey after leaving his crease, believing the ball to be dead.
As the Australia players made their way towards the dressing room for lunch, several MCC members shouted at them, with Khawaja describing how the abuse became increasingly personal.
“As we kept walking, I pulled up when someone shouted right into my ear as there was only a rope and about 20 centimetres between us," he writes. "It got worse. ‘Don’t you dare scream in my ear again, you d***head’, I said to the first guy. Then, as I walked on, I heard someone else say, ‘Shut up, you P***’ — I lost it.”
Khawaja, who was born in Pakistan before moving to Australia at the age of four, says he challenged an individual and called on security to intervene, with the MCC making a public apology to the tourists and opening an investigation.
In October 2023, MCC confirmed that three members had been sanctioned: one was expelled, another received a four-and-a-half-year suspension and a third was suspended for 30 months.
Having implement severe punishments at the time MCC sources told The Guardian today that there are no plans to revisit the matter. Matt Hughes
“I could have written blah blah blah blah blah throughout the whole book and I’d be paid the same,” he said. “And before you even start to think about royalties and book sales and all this other jabber, I have to sell so many books for royalties to even kick in, I don’t reckon I will ever get there. And even if it does. It’s pennies. Anyone who’s written a book will tell you the same.”
