Pat Cummins has taken aim at Usman Khawaja’s “complete and utter nonsense”, accusing his former teammate of being “casual” with the “lives and reputations” of his friends.
The Australian cricket captain broke his silence on Friday morning — in an extraordinary hour-long-plus press conference — after taking time to fully understand Khawaja’s sandpaper allegations.
Cummins was in just his 13th Test at Cape Town 2018 but has captained the side since 2021, overhauling what he termed as an “ugly underbelly” within the side’s “win at all costs mentality”.
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He said Khawaja is “100 per cent wrong” that he and others were the architects of the sandpaper plot despite only Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft taking the fall.
“But I think Usman actually said things that are more serious. He says that I and others were architects of a scheme to ball tamper with sandpaper — that’s complete and utter nonsense,” Cummins said.
“I was genuinely shocked this week that Usman admitted that he told Cam be careful when using sandpaper. That’s not the Usman who I know.
“It’s not the Usman who I think has been part of a team that has helped rebuild Australian cricket culture over the last eight years, and the Usman who would have stopped that from happening.
“Friends aren’t casual with lives and reputations. He’s been casual with my life and many others. We have to be accountable for the things that we say and do.”
He said later: “Usman’s a friend. But I think the way he’s kind of been quite casual and flippant with people’s lives and Australian cricket I don’t think that’s OK and that’s not what friends do … I think it’s irresponsible.”
Cummins vowed to stay until journalists had no more questions, in part out of his desire for the players and Australian cricket as a whole to move on.
At one point he said he had been told he could take Khawaja’s claims further but will not.
“I did get advised this week that some of the things said are defamatory. I won’t be doing that,” Cummins said.
“I respect everyone’s right to tell their story, 100 per cent, go for it. I’m glad people feel like they can, it’s their story to tell.
“I hope this has put a line under it. We’ve had to defend ourselves in 2021, we’ve had to defend ourselves now. If we have to do this every time a new book or idea comes out it’s pretty ridiculous. I’m sure there’ll be another book, we’ll see how we go.”
Cummins, wearing a CA polo but also declaring he felt the Smith, Warner and Bancroft punishments were “way too heavy-handed and over the top”, kept it light on several occasions.
“This was a very hot topic, still is. Good turnout today,” he smiled.
“And it affects real people, it affects people’s lives. Australian cricket, I love it. It’s given me so much. This really affects Australian cricket.
“The way that he’s presented his story, I think he’s done that in a very casual manner and it affects a lot of people. That’s what I’m grappling with at the moment because I don’t think it’s OK.”
Asked if he had read Khawaja’s book, Cummins said: “I’ve read bits … maybe if he sends me a free copy (I’ll read it all).”
Cummins also addressed this week’s paparazzi video of himself and wife Becky in an animated conversation.
“It’s half very comical. Becky wears her heart on her sleeve. It’s all a bit ridiculous, isn’t it?” he said.
“We’re talking about something eight years ago, I’m walking my daughter in nappies and I’ve got cameras chasing me. It’s a bit ridiculous.
“We weren’t having a spat. Becky was very frustrated and not happy with Usman.
“I’ve been with Becky since well before that tour. She lives it all with me. She’s just saying show your emotion because there are a lot of people here hurting.”
Addressing the toll of the Khawaja allegations, he noted they had come out in “the last tiny little window before we go on the road for 12 months straight”.
“I couldn’t get the bins right this week, I’m not going to get the chance for 12 months. It’s frustrating when we know we’re going to be busy, we’re going to need a lot of bandwidth,” Cummins said.
Beyond the sandpaper saga Cummins also said “the most serious” allegation levelled by Khawaja is that the Test captaincy is “quarantined from people because of their skin colour”.
“That’s a pretty big statement,” he said.
“You’ve got to have some evidence and I just don’t think that’s the case. I agree with Uzzy on a lot of things but I couldn’t disagree with that statement any more.”
Cummins said he is proud of the team and culture he’s created since and Khawaja once told him it had been a better environment since he took over.
“That to me is better than any win,” Cummins said.
But Cummins had plenty to say about Cape Town.
He said changerooms, particularly at Newlands, are not what people assume, saying there are multiple conversations happening in multiple “nooks and crannies” and rooms behind the scenes.
“Some of these things are probably true,” Cummins said.
“And they’re his accounts of what happened but I think there’s a few big leaps here where he’s been vague and I think the details really matter in that difference.
“Perhaps there were conversations with Cam Bancroft around taking sandpaper out and how to do it. That doesn’t mean everyone knew.”
Cummins repeatedly acknowledged it appeared the situation had been “sitting heavy” on Khawaja, suggesting the batsman not taking part in the investigation played a role in his bombshells coming eight and a half years later.
“He’s sitting next to Bancroft so it sounds like he knew a lot more than others,” he said.
“We told them absolutely everything, open book. So in some ways maybe that was our chance to get over it and he never got fully over it at the time.”
He and multiple other teammates could also not remember “any conversation around collective responsibility” taking place after the sandpaper incident.
“I don’t remember any team meeting where he stood up and said let’s own this as a team,” Cummins said.
“I definitely don’t remember that and I’ve spoken to quite a few other people — no one remembers a team meeting where someone stood up and said we’ve got to all own this.”
Cummins said he had spoken with Smith in recent days and credited the former captain for his response throughout the years.
“Smithy has been very consistent, he wants to move on,” he said.
“He’s dealt with this very traumatic thing a long time ago. If that helps these guys move on finally maybe that’s a good outcome from this book.
“Steve said at the time I was captain and turned a blind eye, I walked past it. That’s what he’s conveyed to me. That’s what he’s said to me, and I think that’s the man he is.”
Before the press conference, Channel 7 newsbreaker Tom Morris said some of the members of the 2018 South African touring party were hoping Cummins “comes clean” and they believe “the truth will set you free”.
“They are sick of walking on eggshells, telling half-truths and broadly feeling guilty about something which took place eight years ago,” Morris said.
“There are some who are anxious, given the toll the saga took on their wellbeing, and others who are resolute they did not know Bancroft was tampering with the ball on day three in Cape Town.
“The differing perspectives from those inside that dressing room is partly what makes this so complex, and why it was so difficult to manage at the time.”
