David Warner has accused Cricket Australia of a "cover-up" over its investigation into the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, escalating a row that has torn Australian cricket apart this week. The former opener posted a statement on Instagram on Saturday, 14 November, questioning how the board could maintain that the bowlers knew nothing about the Cape Town plot if three of the attack were never interviewed.
Warner, 40, was one of the three players punished after the scandal, along with then-captain Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft. His post came a day after Test captain Pat Cummins held an hour-long press conference in Sydney to rubbish the claims in Usman Khawaja's memoir, Sabr, that the whole team knew sandpaper was being used on the ball.
What Warner said
Warner went straight at the heart of Cricket Australia's position — that only Smith, Warner and Bancroft were in the know. He said the 2018 investigation never spoke to the three senior bowlers who played in that Cape Town Test.
As far as I am aware, CA did not interview Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc or Nathan Lyon in their 2018 investigation.
From there, he questioned the conclusion the board has stood by for eight years.
If that's correct, then how can CA push the idea that the bowlers didn't know?
He then accused the board of deciding its verdict before the inquiry had run its course.
It looks like they had decided who they wanted to blame from the very beginning (and) ran a shoddy investigation to serve the purpose and now they want to maintain the false narrative that the bowlers had no idea.
He finished the post with a single blunt line.
That stinks of a cover up.
The Friday row on Fox Cricket
Warner had already fired back at Cummins on Friday afternoon, speaking on Fox Cricket in the lead-up to Australia's opening one-day match of the summer against England in Perth. He said the captain had thrown his former opening partner under the bus, and made it clear he stood by Khawaja's book.
I still stick by Uzzie and what he's written in that book. It is the truth, and I really, really support him. I actually feel for him at the moment; I feel that the captain today threw Uzzie under the bus, and I'm very, very disappointed about that.
He spoke about the price the three punished players have paid, saying they live with the consequences every day, and about the personal cost to his own family during that time.
All three of us have paid a big price in this. I hadn't spoken to 'Banger' (Bancroft) in eight years, but at the end of the day, we have to live with these consequences daily. We've got to live with these consequences daily, and we've been served a life punishment. So, when other people talk about how they've been affected by it, there's nothing worse for me, Steve and Cameron who have to walk out there every single day. We cop abuse. Yes, we accepted it. But, my wife and I pay the greatest price — we lost a baby during that time. That's why it really hurts me the most, until the truth is accepted.
What happened in Cape Town in 2018
The scandal erupted during the third Test against South Africa at Newlands in Cape Town in March 2018, when Bancroft was caught on camera using sandpaper on the ball. Cricket Australia's investigation concluded that only Smith, Warner and Bancroft knew about the plan. Smith and Warner were banned for a year, Bancroft for nine months, and all three were sent home from the tour in disgrace.
Khawaja's memoir, Sabr, published this week, claims the knowledge went much further — that the entire team and support staff knew sandpaper was being used. He has also alleged that sandpaper was used on the ball in the second Test of that series, in Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha). Cummins said that claim was "news to me".
Starc, Hazlewood, Lyon and Cummins issued a joint statement in 2021 denying any prior knowledge of the plan, saying they did not know a foreign substance had been taken onto the field until they saw the images on the big screen at Newlands. Cummins repeated that position at his press conference on Friday, calling Khawaja's claims "complete and utter nonsense" and "100 per cent wrong".
Cricket Australia's response
Cricket Australia has ruled out reopening the investigation, a position chief executive Todd Greenberg stated earlier in the week. After Warner's post, the board issued a fresh statement on Saturday defending the original inquiry and saying every player had the chance to speak.
As we have stated previously, all players were given the opportunity to speak at the time of the initial investigation and have had the ability to come forward with new evidence in the eight years since. Subsequently, CA has respected every player and former players' right to provide their own version of events.
The statement leaves the board's position unchanged: the investigation stays closed, and players are free to tell their own versions of what happened.
Where the bowlers stand
Of the three bowlers Warner named, only Starc has spoken publicly this week. He said during the week that "we weren't aware of things being taken on the field". Hazlewood and Lyon have yet to comment.
That silence matters, because the bowlers' knowledge is the central dispute. Cummins has said consistently for eight years that he did not know sandpaper was being taken onto the field, and that there was no master plan, no team meeting and no bowlers' agreement to cheat. Warner's post directly challenges whether that conclusion was ever properly tested.
The row has now put the four bowlers from that Cape Town Test — Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood and Lyon — back at the centre of a scandal most in Australian cricket thought had been settled years ago.
What happens next
Cricket Australia is not budging: the investigation will not be reopened, and the board has said its piece. Warner has now said his, in the bluntest terms yet, and Khawaja's book is still selling the argument that the whole team knew. With the ODI series against England under way in Perth — Australia won the opener by seven wickets on Friday, hours after Cummins' press conference — the dispute is playing out in full view of a home summer that was supposed to be about cricket, not Cape Town. Eight years on, Sandpapergate is not going away.
FAQs
What did David Warner accuse Cricket Australia of?
Warner accused Cricket Australia of a "cover-up" over its 2018 ball-tampering investigation. In an Instagram post on Saturday, 14 November, he claimed the board never interviewed Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood or Nathan Lyon, and said it ran a "shoddy investigation" after deciding in advance who to blame.
Why did Warner speak out now?
Usman Khawaja's memoir, Sabr, published this week, claims the whole Australian team knew about the sandpaper plot in Cape Town in 2018. Pat Cummins rejected that at an hour-long press conference on Friday, 13 November, calling it "complete and utter nonsense". Warner, who backs Khawaja's account, responded first on Fox Cricket and then with his Instagram statement.
What happened in the 2018 ball-tampering scandal?
During the third Test against South Africa at Newlands, Cape Town, in March 2018, Cameron Bancroft was caught using sandpaper on the ball. Steve Smith, David Warner and Bancroft were banned by Cricket Australia — Smith and Warner for a year, Bancroft for nine months — after an investigation concluded only the three of them knew about the plan.
Will Cricket Australia reopen the investigation?
No. Chief executive Todd Greenberg ruled it out earlier this week, and the board repeated its position on Saturday, saying all players were given the opportunity to speak at the time and have had eight years to come forward with new evidence.
What did the bowlers say at the time?
Starc, Hazlewood, Lyon and Cummins issued a joint statement in 2021 denying any prior knowledge of the plan. This week Starc repeated that they "weren't aware of things being taken on the field". Hazlewood and Lyon have yet to comment on Warner's latest claims.
Conclusion
Eight years after Cape Town, the sandpaper scandal still has the power to divide Australian cricket. Khawaja's memoir reopened the wound, Cummins answered it in the strongest terms, and now Warner has gone further than either of them — accusing the board itself of a cover-up. Cricket Australia says the case is closed. Warner says the investigation was never a real one. Until one side gives ground, this row will keep running alongside the cricket.
Also on CricVic: Pat Cummins Calls Khawaja's Sandpaper Claims 'Complete and Utter Nonsense'
Also on CricVic: Cricket Australia Rules Out Fresh Investigation Into 2018 Ball-Tampering Scandal After Khawaja Memoir Claims
Sources: Fox Sports — 'Stinks of a cover up': Warner's explosive CA claim in bombshell sandpaper twist, News18 — David Warner Accuses Cricket Australia Of 'Cover-Up' Over Sandpapergate