Updated:
Readtime: 6 min
Every product is carefully selected by our editors and experts. If you buy from a link, we may earn a commission. Learn more. For more information on how we test products, click here.
Like a stubborn tail-ender refusing to give his wicket away, “sandpapergate” is the cricket scandal that simply refuses to die. In March 2018, three Australian cricketers – David Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft – were caught rubbing sandpaper on the ball during a Test match in South Africa. Australia and the cricketing world were outraged, and the three players took all the blame, with career-altering consequences. Eight years later, as Australia tours South Africa once again, the dormant scandal has been resurrected by retired batsman Usman Khawaja, whose new book claims the ball-tampering conspiracy wasn’t contained to just three players. “It was all of us”, Khawaja says.
The revelations have re-opened old wounds and re-ignited a civil war inside Australian cricket. Warner has finally broken his eight-year silence on the scandal, while former coach Darren Lehmann has disputed many of Khawaja’s assertions.
It’s the latest chapter in a sorry saga of corporate-style crisis management, loyalty and institutional self-preservation, and what happens when the scapegoats and co-conspirators finally break ranks.
What is Sandpapergate, and Why is it Back?
In March 2018 during the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town, Australian cricket was plunged into its darkest modern crisis when television cameras caught opening batsman Cameron Bancroft using yellow sandpaper to rough up the ball.
The ensuing scandal revealed that captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner, and Bancroft had conspired in a premeditated plan to alter the ball’s condition, triggering intense international condemnation, tearful press conferences, and unprecedented government intervention.
The fallout resulted in severe, career-altering sanctions from Cricket Australia, banning Smith and Warner for 12 months and Bancroft for nine, while unseating the leadership team and prompting an independent cultural review that ultimately tore down the team’s aggressive “win-at-all-costs” ethos.
Most people probably thought that was the end of it (despite lingering rumours that more than three people were in on the conspiracy), until the weekend.
“It was all of us. Not the batters, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us,” says Khawaja in his book Sabr: Finding My Way in Cricket and Life, an abstract of which was published in the Sydney Morning Herald over the weekend, kicking off the latest round of recriminations.
In the book, Khawaja also claims that he wanted to come forward immediately after the incident to tell the media that the wider team shared collective responsibility, but then-captain Steve Smith explicitly talked him out of it. Khawaja states that he argued with Smith because he was shocked by the severity of the bans handed down, only for Smith to insist on absorbing the full force of the public backlash himself to shield the rest of the group.
Khawaja also claimed that ball tampering is rife in Australian domestic cricket, noting that Victoria are the “best” at ball tampering.
David Warner Breaks His Silence
Warner has always maintained a dignified silence on the sandpapergate affair, until Khawaja’s book brought the furore back into the spotlight this week. Now, Warner is speaking up on Instagram.
“It’s been eight years since I’ve spoken on this topic. And Uzzie, I throw my full support behind you… It’s 100% accurate what you’ve said. Now everyone knows the truth. It’s out there,” Warner said in a post on Monday, in which he criticised Cricket Australia’s “rushed and botched” investigation into the incident.
“Uzzie was sitting next to Cameron Bancroft; Uzzie was not interviewed. How is that a thorough investigation? It baffles me,” Warner said in the post.
What is Cricket Australia Saying?
Cricket Australia has gone into full defensive mode over Khawaja’s claims, while former coach Darren Lehmann has questioned his former batsman’s motives as he tries to promote a new book. In a statement, CA stood by its findings from the initial investigation:
“All relevant information presented to CA to date has been properly considered and we remain comfortable with the findings of our integrity process,” the statement said.
Current Test captain Pat Cummins similarly brushed off the renewed controversy, noting that the team had answered every question a million times, dealt with the issue years ago, and successfully evolved its culture.
Former Australian head coach Darren Lehmann pushed back strongly against Khawaja’s “it was all of us” narrative during an appearance on the ABC’s Summer Grandstand, denying any wider team or coaching knowledge of the sandpaper plot. While acknowledging that general ball-conditioning “dark arts” had been a part of cricket for 150 years, Lehmann criticised the timing of the book’s release eight years after the fact, warning that dragging up the historic saga only forces everyone involved back into an unnecessary and painful place.
“Eight years after the fact and trying to sell a book is a bit different… For the families and the people involved, I feel for them right now because it’s taking them back to a really bad place,” Lehmann said.
“I don’t think everyone would have known about the use of sandpaper. You do know ball tampering is going on because it has been happening for 150 years… It’s just how it’s being done, and how would you know to that extent? That’s an individual case-by-case, to be fair.”
On Tuesday, Khawaja hit back at suggestions he’s just trying to sell more books.
The Myth of Closure
This latest chapter proves that elite sport‘s most institutionalised secrets can’t be permanently locked away by boardrooms, public relations spin, or corporate statements. For years, Australian cricket tried to sell a neat narrative: a rogue trio committed the original sin before the system cleansed itself, and the win-at-all-costs culture evolved. But as Khawaja’s pages open and Warner breaks an eight-year silence, the illusion of closure has shattered, and Australian cricket is on the verge of another civil war.
Sandpapergate was never about a piece of tape on a cricket ball in Cape Town. It was a stress-test of tribal loyalty, collective guilt, and the crushing weight placed on individuals to protect the collective corporate shield. As long as the official line clashes with the raw reality inside the dressing room, the ghost of 2018 will continue to haunt Australian cricket.
Comments
We love hearing from you. or to leave a comment.