David Warner ball tampering claims returned to the centre of Australian cricket on Monday, when Warner posted a video on Instagram backing Usman Khawaja’s account of the 2018 scandal. Warner called Khawaja’s version “100 per cent accurate”, eight years after he last spoke about it. In Sabr, Khawaja says the whole Australian team knew about the plan to use sandpaper on the ball in South Africa in 2018, and that Steve Smith, Warner and Cameron Bancroft were made scapegoats.
The David Warner ball tampering video was Warner’s first public comment on the scandal in eight years. Warner, who retired in 2024, thanked Khawaja for speaking out and said the two of them wanted accountability. “It’s been eight years since I spoke on this topic,” he said. “It’s 100 per cent accurate what you’ve said. Now everyone knows the truth.”
“This whole interview process was rushed and botched,” Warner said. Khawaja sat beside Bancroft in the dressing room that day, yet Cricket Australia never formally interviewed him. “Uzzie was sitting next to Cameron Bancroft. Uzzie was not interviewed. How is that a thorough investigation?” Warner said.
David Warner ball tampering claims in Khawaja’s book
Khawaja’s book Sabr was published on Tuesday, November 10. Khawaja writes that talk about ways to scuff the ball, including with sandpaper, was open and lighthearted on the 2018 tour, and that it ran through the whole team. The David Warner ball tampering claims in Sabr run against the finding of Cricket Australia’s 2018 inquiry, which held that only Smith, Warner and Bancroft knew about the plan.
Khawaja also writes that the plan was not limited to the third Test at Newlands in Cape Town, where Bancroft was caught on camera. He says it was also used in the previous Test at Gqeberha, and writes: “It was all of us.” Khawaja, who retired in January, says he promised Warner he would one day tell his side of the story.
Khawaja writes that an MCC member racially abused him in the Long Room at Lord’s on July 2, 2023, after Alex Carey’s stumping of Jonny Bairstow in the second Ashes Test. Khawaja says a member directed a racial slur at him, though he could not say for certain who said it. The MCC later sanctioned three members: one was expelled for life, one banned for four and a half years and one for two and a half years.
Starc stands by the bowlers’ 2021 statement
Mitchell Starc, one of the four bowlers in the Cape Town Test, has refused to accept the David Warner ball tampering claims. “My recollection hasn’t changed,” Starc said. He pointed to the joint statement he issued in 2021 with Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon, in which the four denied any prior knowledge. Cummins, now the Test captain, has played down talk of fresh fallout from the book.
The David Warner ball tampering case began in March 2018, during the third Test against South Africa at Newlands. Bancroft was caught on camera using sandpaper on the ball, which set off an inquiry by Cricket Australia. Smith and Warner were banned for 12 months, Bancroft for nine. Warner was also barred from leadership roles. The three were the only players punished.
David Warner ball tampering debate widens with MacGill
Former leg spinner Stuart MacGill joined the debate this week. On a FanaticsTV YouTube show, MacGill said he used sandpaper on the ball during his career, from 1998 to 2008. He would tape a small square of sandpaper to his thumb and scratch the ball after tea, before a delivery was bowled. MacGill, who played 44 Tests and took 208 wickets, said he acted out of curiosity, not as part of an organised cheating operation. “It was not a part of a massive global cheating scam,” he said. “I was just really curious to see what would happen and if it would work.” His admission widened the David Warner ball tampering debate beyond the 2018 tour.
Cricket Australia rules out a fresh inquiry
Cricket Australia has said the David Warner ball tampering case will not be reopened. The board said it stood by the findings of its 2018 integrity process. Chief executive Todd Greenberg ruled out a fresh inquiry. “There’s absolutely no benefit going back. That’s the position of the CA board, it’s time to look ahead,” he told SEN radio. Greenberg said parts of Khawaja’s account contradicted what others had said.
Warner has said he and Khawaja will keep pressing for accountability. Cricket Australia has said it will not reopen the case. Australia’s home Test series against New Zealand begins in Perth on December 9, and the David Warner ball tampering row is set to follow the team into that series.