‘Captain threw Uzzie under the bus’: Warner slams Cummins for dismissing Khawaja’s sandpaper claim

Former Australia opener David Warner has backed Usman Khawaja again after Test captain Pat Cummins dismissed Khawaja’s claim that the whole team knew about the use of sandpaper in the 2018 Cape Town Test.

Warner said that Cummins left Khawaja exposed with his response.

Cummins spoke at a press conference on Friday that lasted more than an hour. Khawaja claimed in his autobiography, “Sabr” that every player knew about the plan. Cummins rejected that. “When he says we all knew, if by that he means we knew sandpaper was going out on the field, he’s 100 percent wrong,” Cummins said. He called the claim “complete and utter nonsense.”

Warner criticised the response in on-air comments ahead of the first one-day international between Australia and England. “I actually feel that the captain today threw Uzzie under the bus and I’m very disappointed by that,” he said. He also said he still stands by Khawaja. “I still stick by Uzzie and what he has written in that book,” Warner said.

Warner was one of three players banned after Cameron Bancroft used sandpaper on the ball in the Newlands Test. He said he, Steve Smith and Bancroft have paid the biggest price. “We’ve been served a life punishment,” Warner said. He also said his wife and he lost a baby during that time. “That’s why it really hurts me the most until the truth is accepted,” he said.

Cummins said Khawaja was “flippant” in making the claims eight years after the incident. He said he respects Khawaja’s right to tell his story and will not take legal action against him.

Mitchell Starc, Cummins’ bowling partner, spoke earlier this week and kept to his version of events. “We weren’t aware of things being taken on the field,” Starc said. He also told reporters he had not paid much attention to Khawaja’s claims.

Josh Hazlewood has not commented this week. Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon issued a joint statement in 2021 denying any knowledge of the plan. Smith and Bancroft have also stayed silent.

A Cricket Australia investigation in 2018 found that only Warner, Smith and Bancroft knew about the plan. Cricket Australia banned Smith and Warner for a year and Bancroft for nine months.