Cricket Australia rules out a fresh Sandpapergate inquiry

Cricket Australia will not reopen its investigation into “Sandpapergate”. Todd Greenberg, Cricket Australia’s chief executive, will not reopen the investigation into the 2018 ball-tampering incident, following Usman Khawaja’s claim that the entire team was aware of the plan to use sandpaper in South Africa.

Khawaja brought the issue back into the debate with his new book, “Sabr”, eight years after the scandal. After his revelations, David Warner said on Monday that Khawaja’s account was “100 per cent accurate”. Cricket Australia had, however, maintained that only Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft knew about the plot. Those three players were banned after the affair.

Greenberg, who was not working for Cricket Australia when the scandal took place, said the organisation saw “no compelling reason” to reopen the investigation. He added that it was comfortable with the outcome based on the information it had received, including what Khawaja had provided. “Our position hasn’t changed,” he said. He also said the organisation did not want to second-guess decisions made by previous leadership or reassess them with hindsight.

The chief executive acknowledged that accounts of events differed. “Usman’s version is inconsistent with what others have had to say,” he said, adding that several players had publicly maintained a different position since the start of 2018. He said their accounts had remained consistent and were unlikely to change. In his view, the disagreement remains: those involved have different versions of what happened.

Greenberg also said the bowlers had been consistent since the original investigation. He pointed to their public statements in 2021 denying prior knowledge of the plan, as well as his conversations with them over the weekend. Pat Cummins is expected to speak in the coming days or weeks; Greenberg expects his position to be the same as it has been since 2018. Cummins and Mitchell Starc are also expected to speak about the issue in the days or weeks ahead.

Greenberg said he would like to close this chapter of Australian cricket, but considered that unlikely. He also noted that the matter had been handled by a previous leadership in 2018. The decision not to reopen the inquiry therefore leaves the competing accounts at the centre of the debate, without changing Cricket Australia’s position.