Cummins calls Khawaja’s sandpaper scandal allegations ‘complete and utter nonsense’

Australia captain Pat Cummins has denied Usman Khawaja’s assertion that the whole team was in on the plan during the 2018 Cape Town Test against South Africa. Labelling the allegations as “absolute and utter nonsense”.

Khawaja was “100% wrong” in claiming the use of sandpaper was common knowledge to all players and officials, Cummins said at a news conference in Sydney on Friday.

“If when he says we all knew, and he means we knew sandpaper was coming out on the field, he’s wrong, 100 per cent wrong,” said Cummins. ” I didn’t realise that was going on.”

Khawaja revealed the allegations in his recently published autobiography, Sabr, saying the rest of the Australian team knew about the plot. He said he wanted to challenge the idea that only three players were responsible for the scandal.

The controversy broke in the third Test of 2018 in Cape Town, after Cameron Bancroft was seen on TV applying sandpaper to the ball.

Cricket Australia later imposed one-year bans on captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner and a nine-month ban on Bancroft.

Cummins also dismissed claims that he and other bowlers had been involved in working out the plan. “That’s total rubbish,” he said.