‘It’s 100 per cent accurate’: Warner backs Khawaja for telling ‘truth’ about Cape Town

David Warner has broken his long silence over the events of Cape Town in 2018 to insist Usman Khawaja’s revelations about Australian cricket’s sandpaper scandal are “100 per cent accurate”, heaping further pressure on Test captain Pat Cummins and his fellow bowlers to address the explosive claims.

Australian cricket has been forced to reckon with one of its darkest chapters again on the eve of the home summer after Khawaja lifted the lid on the ball-tampering affair in South Africa.

Amid a series of disclosures in his autobiography, Sabr, which is being released on Tuesday, Khawaja suggested the entire Australian team, including Cummins and the bowlers, knew about the plot to use sandpaper on the ball in the third Test against South Africa eight years ago and that the tactic had also been deployed in the previous Test, in Gqeberha.

Warner, who was fingered by Cricket Australia in 2018 as the architect of the scheme, on Monday night backed Khawaja’s version of events.

“It’s been eight years since I spoke on this topic. Uzzie, I throw my full support behind you. I thank you for what you’ve done,” Warner said in a social media video.

“It’s 100 per cent accurate what you’ve said. Now everyone knows the truth. It’s out there. People wanted to know it. You’ve come out and said it.”

Warner, who is playing in the Nepal Premier League, was hit with a year-long ban in 2018, as was then captain Steve Smith, while opening partner Cameron Bancroft received a nine-month suspension after being caught with sandpaper on the field at Newlands.

He said the fast-tracked investigation carried out by CA in South Africa was flawed. Khawaja was among a group of players who weren’t interviewed.

“This whole interview process was rushed and botched,” Warner said. “Uzzie was sitting next to Cameron Bancroft [in the dressing-room at Cape Town]. Uzzie was not interviewed. How is that a thorough investigation? It baffles me.

“We’re not here to point fingers and we’re not opening old wounds. It’s about accountability, transparency, ensuring that the truth is properly examined, and perhaps it’s time people stop scrutinising the person. [People should be] asking for accountability and start asking those responsible for the investigation to provide it.

“There was a lot of statements and inaccuracies over the last eight years that were out in the media and there were a lot of people who stayed silent.”

Warner said he had spent the days since this masthead revealed the contents of Khawaja’s book speaking to his family about what transpired in South Africa.

Two of his three daughters were with him and wife Candice on the tour.

“That’s why it’s taken me a couple of days to get this out, because I’ve had to tell them exactly what had happened – especially my 12-year-old, Ivy, wanting to know why we were holding her, why there were so many cameras, why we were crying on TV,” Warner said. “That was a hard thing to do. But one thing I did say is, ‘Girls, tell the truth, because lies will eventually get out’.

“This is for everyone in Australia. It’s been the question that everyone’s been asking. Uzzie, you’ve said it how it is. It’s 100 per cent accurate.

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

Australia’s four bowlers in South Africa in 2018 – including Cummins – have previously issued joint statements denying knowledge of the use of sandpaper in Cape Town but are yet to comment on Khawaja’s claims.

Warner broke his silence as his long-time manager, James Erskine, claimed CA did not want to discover the full story at the time of the scandal.

“The responsibility, in my view, clearly lies with the administration at the time of the investigation. They didn’t want to find the truth. No one wanted to find the truth,” Erskine said.

“Cricket Australia officials were frightened of losing their jobs … the fact that they didn’t interview Khawaja and a lot of the players is a joke. Sandpapergate became Watergate, that is basically what happened. The truth always comes out eventually.”

Erskine began representing Warner in December 2018, nine months after the cheating furore erupted, and said the now 40-year-old had “carried the can” for it.

“He was treated appallingly. His wife lost a baby [Candice Warner suffered a miscarriage in May 2018],” he said.

Warner has signed his own book contract but could not have been the first to expose a version of events very different from the official CA record.

It was left to Khawaja, a childhood friend of Warner, to pad up and do that. He been criticised for waiting eight years to go public. According to Erskine, though, Khawaja is “bloody good bloke and it’s gutsy what he’s done”.

“David originally wanted to carry on playing Test cricket. Had he come out and said anything he would have been dropped,” said the veteran sports agent, whose former clients include Shane Warne, Michael Clarke, Greg Norman and Muhammad Ali.

“The second thing is he was public enemy No.1. So, would people have believed him? No.”

‘Sandpapergate became Watergate, that is basically what happened. The truth always comes out eventually.’

James Erskine

Erskine said it was his understanding that former CA head of integrity Iain Roy, who led the 2018 investigation, had signed a non-disclosure agreement upon being made redundant from the organisation soon after, as had several other officials, preventing him speaking about the ball-tampering probe.

He does not direct any blame towards subsequent CA management but believes “the whole thing has got to be cleared up”.

“I think the whole truth is going to come out now, whichever way you like it,” he said. “If I was [CA chief executive] Todd Greenberg I would say, ‘OK, we’re going to get to the truth’ because it’s going to come out anyway.

“The big question, the key to whole thing, is why did everybody lie the day after it happened? If everyone had told the truth, this would not be Sandpapergate – it would have been a pimple on an elephant’s arse.”

Bancroft arrived in Melbourne on Monday with the West Australian team, saying he was focused on the Sheffield Shield game against Victoria starting on Wednesday.

Some of Bancroft’s teammates appeared startled by the presence of media greeting them on arrival.

“We’ve got a Shield game and a one-dayer coming up over the next week, so my focus is solely on my own game and obviously performing as best I can for Western Australia,” Bancroft said.

“In regards in Usman’s book … I don’t have any further comments to add to that at this stage.”

He was quickly whisked away by a minder, refusing to answer questions on whether Khawaja was correct is alleging the entire team knew of the ball-tampering plot.

NSW captain Nic Maddinson, meanwhile, questioned the timing of Khawaja’s disclosures in the week the Australian team begins a one-day international series against England in Perth.

He said he had “no idea” Khawaja was about to reignite the controversy.

Maddinson was part of Australia’s recent tour of South Africa, making 56 runs across four innings, including two ducks, before being dropped for the third Test in Cape Town.

“It’s obviously disappointing that it keeps coming up. But it’s that time of year, isn’t it, when Christmas comes along and people have books to sell, so things come out,” said Maddinson, speaking ahead of NSW’s Sheffield Shield clash against South Australia, which starts in Sydney on Wednesday.

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