Khawaja book tour adjusted as Cricket Australia declines to reopen ball-tampering inquiry

Usman Khawaja has withdrawn from some radio and television appearances while promoting his book, but publisher Penguin says the tour is continuing, according to the Guardian. The schedule changes on Wednesday followed an ABC interview in which the former Australia Test batter faced questions about his account of the 2018 ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.

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Penguin told the ABC that this week’s programme had been adjusted, while stressing that the tour had not been cancelled. Khawaja’s book, Sabr, was published on Tuesday. That evening, ABC journalist Sarah Ferguson questioned him on the 7.30 Report about whether Australian players beyond the three who were sanctioned knew about the plan to alter the ball with sandpaper.

The Guardian reported that Khawaja’s book claims all members of the team were aware of the plan. In the interview, however, he declined to expand on whether bowlers Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon had participated in discussions about ball tampering. He also declined to answer a specific question about whether Cummins had known beforehand that sandpaper was being used.

Khawaja said he had carefully considered how to write the chapter and wanted to give his own account without naming individuals. He described Cummins and Starc as friends and said his aim was collective accountability rather than targeting particular teammates. Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were the players sanctioned over the incident in March 2018.

The bowlers’ position remains different from the account attributed to Khawaja. In a joint statement issued in 2021, the bowling group denied knowing that a foreign substance had been taken onto the field before seeing images on the big screen at Newlands. The Guardian reported that Starc reiterated on Tuesday that he and other team members had not known about the sandpaper plan.

Ferguson also asked Khawaja about Warner’s endorsement of his account and Warner’s comments about lies eventually emerging. Khawaja declined to interpret those remarks on Warner’s behalf. Cricket Australia, meanwhile, said it would not reopen its original investigation because it had found no compelling reason to do so, leaving the renewed public disagreement without a fresh inquiry.