Moreover, he revealed that the object was used during the previous Test match.” David Warner has reacted strongly after former Australia batting coach Graeme Hick slammed Usman Khawaja’s bombshell revelation that everyone on the team knew about the use of an illegal foreign object on the ball in the infamous 2028 sandpaper gate. Three days before the release of his memoir ‘Sabr’, which detailed the events of 2018 Sandpapergate, Khawaja dropped a bombshell saying the whole team was aware of the sandpaper plot in the Cape Town Test.
In an interview to Sydney Morning Herald, Hick said: “What Khawaja is implying is absolutely false.
The masthead further reported that Test skipper Pat Cummins is expected to speak publicly for the first time since Khawaja’s explosive claims on Friday, but Cricket Australia said it is yet to be confirmed. Until now, the public narrative was that the then captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner, and Cameron Bancroft were involved, with Bancroft having applied the object to the ball. Smith and Warner were handed a one-year ban from playing in international and domestic cricket, while Bancroft was banned for nine months.
Warner was hit with a lifetime leadership ban in international and Australian domestic cricket, something which was overturned in 2024.
Moreover, Smith was told that he could not captain Australia for two years.
