David Warner has reignited the feud at the heart of Australian cricket, claiming that three of the bowlers who played in the third Test against South Africa in 2018 were never interviewed as part of what he called a “shoddy” investigation into the ball-tampering scandal.
The former Australia vice-captain said the inquiry “stinks of a cover-up”, alleging on social media that the trio were not questioned by Cricket Australia after Cameron Bancroft was spotted handling sandpaper on the field in Cape Town. The three players formed part of a bowling quartet alongside Pat Cummins at the time.
“As far as I am aware, CA did not interview Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc or Nathan Lyon during their 2018 investigation,” Warner posted on Instagram on Saturday.
“If that’s correct, how can CA maintain that the bowlers were unaware? It looks like they had already decided who they wanted to blame, ran a shoddy investigation to serve that purpose, and now they want to preserve the false narrative that the bowlers knew nothing. That stinks of a cover-up.”
Warner made the claim a day after accusing Cummins of throwing Usman Khawaja “under the bus” when the current Test captain fired back at his former teammate during a marathon press conference earlier on Friday.
Cricket Australia has defended its investigation, saying each player still has the opportunity to share their version of events from the 2018 tour of South Africa.
Warner, Bancroft and Steve Smith were the only players sanctioned after a CA investigation found that the trio had prior knowledge of the plan to use sandpaper as a ball-tampering agent in Cape Town.
“As we have stated previously, all players were given the opportunity to speak at the time of the initial investigation and have had the ability to come forward with new evidence in the eight years since,” a CA spokesperson said.
“Subsequently, CA has respected every player’s and former player’s right to provide their own version of events.”
The controversy was reignited by Khawaja’s allegations in his memoir, Sabr, and during interviews to promote the book.
In a press conference that lasted more than an hour, Cummins said that he “did not know” sandpaper was being taken onto the field at Newlands.
“When he says ‘we all knew’, if by that he means that we knew sandpaper was going out onto the field, he’s 100% wrong,” Cummins said on Friday. “I’ve said that consistently for the last eight years. I did not know that was happening. But I think Usman actually says things that are far more serious than that.
“He says that I and others were the architects of a scheme to tamper with the ball using sandpaper. That’s complete and utter nonsense. I was genuinely shocked this week when I found out that Usman admitted he told Cam [Bancroft] to be careful when using sandpaper.”
Warner responded just hours after Cummins spoke to reporters at Cricket New South Wales headquarters in Sydney, appearing on Kayo Cricket during the buildup to the first one-day international between Australia and England in Perth.
The former opener said he would “stick by Uzzy and what he’s written in that book”.
“It’s the truth and I really, really support him,” Warner said on Friday. “I actually feel for him at the moment. I feel that the captain today threw Uzzy under the bus, and I’m very, very disappointed about that.
“All three of us [Warner, Bancroft and Smith] have paid a big price in this. I hadn’t spoken about it in eight years. But at the end of the day, we’ve got to live with these consequences daily and we’ve been served a life sentence.
“It’s been very difficult, because of the way it was handled in the first place, it was hard for us to go back and give more evidence. I felt like it was a botched investigation. It was a quick one to get it over and done with.”