Usman Khawaja has whipped up an incredible storm within Australian cricket and around the globe after the release of his book Sabr.
The former Australia batter's decision to reveal his own account of the infamous 'Sandpapergate' incident from Cape Town in 2018 is the talk of Australian sport, while other cricket figures continue to weigh in elsewhere around the world.
Follow the latest updates on the saga below!
'He's 100% wrong': Cummins breaks silence, addresses reignited sandpaper allegations
"I've taken a bit of time this week to respond to Usman's allegations. I've been trying to understand exactly what those allegations have been. When he says we all knew ... he's 100% wrong," Cummins said when fronting the media in Sydney on Friday morning.
"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 architects of a scheme to ball tamper with sandpaper. That's complete and utter nonsense.
"Usman is a friend, but friends aren't casual with each other's lives and reputations. I support his right to tell a story. I'm glad that he feels like he can. But we have to be accountable for the things that we say and do."
Cummins also said he's been left frustrated by the incident from eight years ago being brought up again.
"We have moved on.
"We'll keep saying it but, again, these are people's lives. It was traumatic for some of them. They have had to work through quite a bit to get out the other side. So again, that's why I'm really disappointed and frustrated this week.
"To bring it up so flippantly is irresponsible."
Usman claimed in his book that when the decision was made to replace Steve Smith as captain, he was overlooked because "Australia wasn't ready for a brown captain".
Cummins respond: "Of all the things I've read this week, that's actually the most serious.
"To think that the job I hold is quarantined from people based on their skin colour -- that's a pretty big statement. If you're gonna say that, you've got to have some evidence.
"Him saying that to be Australia's captain you have to be a certain skin colour... I couldn't disagree with that statement more."
Cummins also pointed to the investigation by Cricket Australia which took place at the time and won't be reopened, saying there's "a proper way to do things".
"We all took part in that investigation at the time," he said. "We told them everything.
"I think that investigation was a proper way to do it.
"Everyone was asked in the circumstances about a game very quickly after. So that's for CA. I think you can maybe argue whether the judgements were fair, but what can you do? I got asked all the questions, answered them all fairly."
Despite being advised this week that some of the things that were said by Khawaja could be defamatory, Cummins won't be taking any legal action, and is instead eager to "move on".
He also spoke now about the nuance involved in what bowlers do to the ball.
"The details matter because I can totally understand if you hear and have a passing interest in cricket and you see that sandpaper has been taken on to the field, I can see why it is jarring," he said.
"There's a huge spectrum here of right and wrong, but there's a lot of nuance. You are allowed to shine a ball. You are allowed to apply saliva. Not any more, but you were. But you cannot apply too much, you cannot load it up.
"There's a lot of nuance and we take each extreme, I will shine it with a bit of saliva and maybe I have some sugar in my mouth. You can see how the boundaries get pushed a bit."
After answering questions for over an hour, Cummins was hopeful his answers can help everyone "move on to much more fun topics, like actual cricket starting this afternoon".
Boon backs Cummins
David Boon, the interim chair of Cricket Australia (CA), has given Pat Cummins his full backing amid the fallout from Usman Khawaja's autobiography.
"We absolutely support Pat," Boon was quotes as saying by News Corp. "He's been an exemplary captain, he's led the team with integrity and, you know, very successfully over the period of time that he's been captain, so there's no question of our confidence in him continuing on in that fact."
Earlier this week CA CEO Todd Greenberg said the investigation into what happened at Newlands in 2018 won't be re-opened even though Khawaja's book provides significant new detail.
Boon added: "We can't change what happened, but I suppose what we can do is we can learn from the past and I think the guys have. With team culture, the way they behave, the way they represent the baggy green has been exemplary since ... personally, I see that it wouldn't serve any purpose to reopen an investigation. That's all been done by different people in the past. The Board now is a totally different composition, they were not involved. The CEO is different.
"I respect [Usman's] point of view and his recollections of what occurred, and they're his, but we don't want to get into a he said, she said argument. There are going to be supporters, there's going to be other guys that don't recollect the same thing, so I don't see a purpose."
Boon recently took over from Mike Baird who stepped down as chair at the AGM late last month. It remains to be seen if Boon becomes the full time successor.
Cummins to speak to media on Friday
Australia captain Pat Cummins has said he will speak to the media in Sydney on Friday to respond the allegations made by Usman Khawaja in his recently released autobiography.
Cummins posted on social media on Thursday morning that he would talk around training at Cricket Central.
"I'm training at Cricket Central tomorrow morning before the Blues play in the Shield match," Cummins wrote. "Happy to speak with any and all media about the events of this week at 9.30am.
"I've taken some time to try and better understand the long list and full extent of Uzzy's allegations so I can respond properly. Afterwards please stay and support the Blues!
"I'll ask CA to send out details."
Mitchell Marsh is due to speak later on Thursday in Perth as ODI captain ahead of the series against England.
Mitchell Starc was the first of the active players who were involved in 2018 to respond when he denied knowledge of sandpaper being used at any stage in the series.
Peter Handscomb, who was a reserve player on the day Australia were caught in Cape Town, declined to offer further details at the MCG yesterday.
Prior: Can't believe that only three players knew
Former England wicketkeeper Matt Prior has weighed into the rehashing of the 2018 ball-tampering scandal from Usman Khawaja's autobiography, accusing Australia's bowlers of playing dumb around the use of sandpaper to achieve reverse swing.
Khawaja asserted in Sabr that "all of us" knew about the tactic employed, with David Warner stating his team-mate is "100% accurate". Speaking this week, Mitchell Starc claimed the bowlers were unaware sandpaper was being taken onto the field to work on the ball.
It is a claim Prior dismisses based on his own experience of international dressing rooms, particularly in the pursuit of reverse swing. Prior believes there is no way the bowlers would have been oblivious to the ball management tactics being employed.
"In every team I played in, good luck doing anything to the ball without consulting the bowlers first," said Prior, who played 79 Tests for England, 18 of them against Australia, including a key role in the 2010-11 Ashes success. "You'd be taking your life in your own hands!
"I can't believe for one minute that only three players knew what was going on...bowlers, coach and bowling coach weren't involved in discussions of how to get the ball moving...whether it be by cheating or not!
"Now, what I will say, because we can't all suddenly come across holier than thou, is that in international cricket, you have to find a way to get the ball going sideways.
"In Test cricket, if the ball is not going off the straight - whether that be spin, orthodox swing, or reverse - you will be standing in the field for two days, because the batsmen are that good.
"So, as a team, you make decisions: you evaluate the wicket, you evaluate the conditions, and you're saying, 'right, what are we doing here?'
"But you have situations on certain surfaces where the ball is doing nothing, and you have to get it moving sideways, and therefore, reverse swing is the option, and there are a number of ways you can do that.
"I can't comment on what goes on in other dressing rooms, I can only talk about my experience within the dressing rooms that I played in, and one of the things I do know is that the ball is the bowler's armoury.
"If a bowler went up to a batsman's bat, for instance, and started sanding it, or changing a grip, or taking tape off it, or anything else - if you went anywhere near Jonathan Trott's bat, he would have gone absolutely ballistic!
"So, you can imagine what it's like for a bowler; you've got one ball, and then you get three batters suddenly tearing into it without your knowledge? They would be going absolutely mental."
Prior was speaking via a media opportunity through UK broadcaster TNT Sports, for whom the 44-year-old is working as a commentator for the white ball series between Australia and England, which starts in Perth on Friday.
Warner swipes at Lehmann
David Warner has appeared to agree with criticism aimed at former Australia coach Darren Lehmann by Chris Broad, the father of Stuart and a former ICC match referee.
As the fallout from Usman Khawaja's autobiography gathers pace, amid the revelations about the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, Broad spoke to Track Radio where he said that Lehmann must have known what was going on in the dressing room.
"Darren Lehman surely knew all about it," Broad said. "And if he didn't, he shouldn't have been the coach at the time. I think he's got away lightly ... OK, he left his job a few months later, but he didn't get any sanctions."
Broad went on to reference Lehmann's reaction when Stuart Broad didn't walk for his edge in the 2013 Ashes Test at Edgbaston.
"And there he was in 2013, taking the moral high ground against my son, where he played the Australian game of nicking the ball and waiting for the umpire to give him out, and he got given not out on that occasion, and then [Lehmann] came out in the media saying 'we're going to make him cry when he comes to Australia next'.
"And here he is, the coach of the Australian cricket team that brought sandpaper out onto the field of play and denied any knowledge of this happening. I'm very angry at Darren Lehmann in this respect."
A reply on X, Warner said: "I couldn't agree more and that's hard for me to say!"
Lehmann had spoken on ABC Grandstand last Saturday, shortly after the first story about Khawaja's book came out, and denied suggestions that everyone would have known about the sandpaper plot. He also spoke about the mental strain of the episode being revisited.
"It just brings back really bad memories," he said. "It was a bad day in Australian cricket and again as we've said in the past and I've said in the past, [have] apologised to 26 million people. We let the country down on that day. I had to have a lot of help off-grid, if you like, and with people behind the scenes. And without that help, I don't know where I'd be. So I was thankful for that.
"It's not easy to talk about even now, and then you go back there, and I don't know any way else to say this, but it puts you back in a bad place. So hopefully I can just get through this, and we move forward again. But with the help of good people, that'll happen."
ACA: No winners in this issue
Paul Marsh, the chief executive of the ACA, issued this statement yesterday:
"The events of the 2018 South Africa tour were a low point for Australian cricket.
"Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft paid an enormous price for what happened. One that was great than and, as the ACA said at the time, disproportionate to any precedent in the game.
"Eight years on, it is understandable that those involved may have different recollections and perspectives of what took place. Players and staff at the hart of the issue are entitled to share their experiences, just as others are entitled to put such a challenging period of their life behind them.
"There are no winners in this issue, and nothing can undo what happened. But we must recongise that there are humans in the centre of this and we will be calling for the ongoing vitriol directed at those involved to come to an end. The price paid, both professionally and personally, has already been too great.
"The ACA will not be commenting on individual accounts of what took place. The ACA's role is to support our members and we have been in contact with all players on that tour to offer our support. This support extends to all members of the ACA and their families."
Khawaja cancels book apppearances
It has been reported by both News Corp and Nine newspapers on Wednesday that Usman Khawaja has cancelled any further TV or radio appearances to promote his book following a tense interview on ABC's 7.30 report where he was pressed for more details and whether Pat Cummins had direct knowledge of ball tampering.
Interviewer Sarah Ferguson asked: "You say you want to take the responsibility away from being landed on just those three people. That means that other people must take responsibility as well. I want to put it very clearly to you, so there can be no doubt about what it is you are saying. Did Australian captain Pat Cummins have prior knowledge that sandpaper was being used to change the surface of the ball?"
Khawaja said: "I'm not going to answer that. I've written what I've written in my book. I've come out and stood by those three guys and told my account. I think [former teammate] Chadd Sayers came out the other day and [backed me up]. I'm not going to speculate on behalf of anyone else."
Asked later in the interview how the book would effect his relationship with Cummins, Khawaja said: "I'm not sure. But I've been friends with Pat a long time. I've told my truth and I've given my reasons at the end of the day. I think some things I've always stood for - my values and what I think is right. Yeah, there's no ideal way of doing this, but I can't speak for Pat."
It's understood that conversations remain ongoing about when Cummins will speak.
Khawaja's exposive claims reignite sandpaper drama
For the last eight years it has felt a case of when, and not if, the sandpaper controversy from 2018 would rear its head again. For a long time it was thought it would be David Warner who would reveal new details, but it's been his childhood friend Usman Khawaja who has sent the game back into crisis-mode with the publication of his autobiography Sabr and particularly the chapter titled Sandpaper.
In an interview with Nine newspapers prior to publication, it said it was "all of us" in relation to the ball-tampering in 2018 although said on Instagram a day later that was about the team taking collective responsibility which they refused to do. Warner, Steven Smith and Cameron Bancroft with the three players sanction.
However, he added he would not "deny" that everyone knew what was going on because he wouldn't speak for other players. Warner later said everything Khawaja says in his book is "100% accurate."
Material published by News Corp followed by the subsequent launch of the book has provided more new detail, significantly around the fact sandpaper was used in the second Test at Port Elizabeth as well.
Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive Todd Greenberg has said the 2018 investigation - which was purely focused on events at Newlands and was completed swiftly - won't be re-opened. Meanwhile, Mitchell Starc was the first of the players involved who remain active to react, saying he stands by the 2021 statement issued by the bowling attack. But it seems unlikely this story will go away quickly.