Cummins not worried about potential Khawaja revelations

Pat Cummins said he has no concerns about any possible revelations that might emerge from Usman Khawaja’s forthcoming autobiography, even as Australia prepares for its first Test tour of South Africa since the ball‑tampering scandal erupted in Cape Town in 2018. On Friday Cummins confirmed he had spoken with Khawaja a few weeks earlier about the book. “Uz gave me a buzz a few weeks back that he is releasing a book,” Cummins said. “He didn’t go into too much detail, just basically gave me the heads‑up that he is doing a publication and, as always, no worries. Tell your story. It’s fine. It’s obviously a long time ago and all the investigations, everything was done back then and we answered every question a number of times. It was dealt with then and all I can say is that as a group, we have moved on and we are very happy with the past 8 to 9 years however we have been as a group and evolved and obviously my focus is on captaining the cricket team.” Australia’s upcoming Test series begins in Durban, marking the team’s first return to South Africa since the incident that saw captain Steve Smith, vice‑captain David Warner and batter Cameron Bancroft sanctioned for their involvement in the plot to alter the ball’s condition. The four bowlers who featured in that match—Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon—have repeatedly stated they had no prior knowledge of the scheme. In 2021 the bowlers issued a joint statement addressing the affair, and they are again expected to be selected for the opening Test against South Africa. Khawaja, who appeared in all four Tests during the 2018 tour, retired from international cricket in January. His autobiography is scheduled for release in November. At the time of the scandal, Smith described the plan as having been devised by the “leadership group” of the Australian side on the third day of the third Test in Cape Town, with Bancroft caught rubbing sandpaper on the ball the same day. While Smith, Warner and Bancroft received bans, no evidence emerged suggesting the bowlers failed to notice a change in the ball’s condition. In a 2021 interview with the Guardian, Bancroft responded to a question about the bowlers’ awareness by stating, “It’s pretty much self‑explanatory.” Read the full story at BBC News →