David Warner accuses CA of ‘cover-up’, reveals Hazlewood and Starc were ‘never questioned’ in sandpaper row

Former Australian opener and one of the three penalised players from the 2018 ball-tampering saga, David Warner, has reignited the controversy following his remarks about Pat Cummins on Friday (Nov 13). After claiming that Cummins threw Usman Khawaja—whose autobiography Sabr brought the saga back into the spotlight—under the bus regarding teammate awareness during the Cape Town Test, Warner has accused Cricket Australia (CA) of a ‘cover-up’ in its investigation.

In his social media post, Warner said that the governing body never questioned Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon during the 2018 investigation.

"As far as I am aware, CA did not interview Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc or Nathan Lyon in their 2018 investigation," Warner posted on Instagram on Saturday. "If that's correct, then how can CA push the idea that the bowlers didn't know?

"It looks like they had decided who they wanted to blame from the very beginning, ran a shoddy investigation to serve the purpose, and now they want to maintain the false narrative that the bowlers had no idea. That stinks of a cover-up."

In response to Warner’s claims, a CA spokesperson said, "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.

“Subsequently, CA has respected every player and former player's right to provide their own version of events.”

‘Uzzy’s being casual with my life’: Cummins

During his 68-minute presser on Friday, Cummins responded to the media’s questions around Khawaja’s claims in his autobiography, which were aimed at Cummins and his then-teammates. Replying to accusations levelled against Cummins, the Australian ODI captain said that Usman has been his friend, but friends aren’t casual with each other’s lives and reputations.

"I've said that consistently for the last eight years. I did not know that was happening," he said. "But I think Usman actually says things that are actually far more serious than that. He says that I and others were architects of a scheme to ball tamper with sandpaper. That's complete and utter nonsense.

"I was genuinely shocked this week when I found out that Usman admitted that he told Cam [Cameron Bancroft] to be careful when using sandpaper. That's not the Usman that I know. It's not the Usman that has been part of a team that's helped rebuild the Australian cricket culture over the last eight years. And, you know, the Usman that would have stopped that from happening there and then.

"Usman is a friend, but friends aren't casual with each other's lives and reputations. In his book, Uzzy's being casual with my life and the lives of many others and I think Australian cricket,” Cummins continued.

Meanwhile, Warner took a dig at Cummins for his comments during the broadcast of the ODI series opener between England and Australia in Perth on Friday.

"Pat Cummins was very well prepared this morning. I still stick by Uzzy and what he's written in that book. It's the truth, and I really support him. I actually feel for him at the moment. I actually feel that the captain today actually threw Uzzy under the bus, and I'm very, very disappointed about that,” Warner, Khawaja’s childhood friend and a long-time teammate, said.