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Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg Rejects Fresh Sandpapergate Probe After Usman Khawaja Claims
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CA will not reopen the 2018 ball-tampering investigation despite Khawaja's new allegations. Todd Greenberg says claims do not justify another inquiry and CA is comfortable with outcome.
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CA rejects fresh probe
Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg said Cricket Australia has no compelling reason to reopen the 2018 ball-tampering investigation after Usman Khawaja challenged the original findings in his autobiography, Sabr.
Greenberg told radio station SEN, "We don't see any compelling reason to open the investigation or revisit this again," and he added that he does not believe another inquiry would produce anything useful.
The original Cricket Australia inquiry identified Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft as the three players with prior knowledge of the plan, and it sent all three home from the tour of South Africa after the scandal emerged during the third Test in Cape Town.
Usman Khawaja’s account in Sabr disputes that knowledge was limited to those three players, and Khawaja told the Sydney Morning Herald, "It was all of us. Not the batters, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us," as the controversy returned to the spotlight.
David Warner publicly endorsed Khawaja’s version of events, and Warner said, "It's 100 percent accurate what you've said. Now everyone knows the truth."
Clarke presses for reopening
Former Australia captain Michael Clarke said Australian fans "can't trust what's real" and called for the investigation into the 2018 sandpaper scandal to be reopened.
Clarke told 2DayFM, "They can't trust what's real. They don't know the truth until this gets reopened and the truth comes out," and he said the investigation process needs to be restaged.
Clarke also said he wanted to know whether Pat Cummins and others knew about the plot, and Clarke added, "I can't believe we haven't heard from Pat Cummins yet, the Australian captain."
Mitchell Starc responded by denying knowledge of any sandpaper plan beyond what the bowlers said in 2021, and Starc told reporters, "We weren't aware anything was taken onto the field to be tampered with."
Greenberg said he had not read Khawaja’s autobiography but would take Khawaja’s revelations into consideration, while also saying Cricket Australia was comfortable with the outcome of the 2018 probe based on the information it received.
What happens next
Cricket Australia’s stance left the 2018 disciplinary outcome in place, with Smith suspended for 12 months and removed as captain, Warner receiving a year-long ban and being prohibited from holding a leadership position, and Bancroft handed a nine-month suspension. The dispute over who knew about the ball-tampering plan continued to shape public pressure, with Clarke arguing that fans had not moved on and with Warner backing Khawaja’s account as "100 percent accurate." Greenberg said he was "comfortable with the outcome of the investigation" and that "We don't see any compelling reason to open the investigation or revisit this again," while also pointing to conflicting versions from the same moment in time.
“We don't see any compelling reason to open the investigation or revisit this again. I don't think there's anything that can be gained from that.”
The next public appearances were framed around players addressing the issue, with Greenberg saying Pat Cummins would speak in the coming days or weeks and with Starc scheduled to speak to media at a Kayo function in Sydney. The controversy also intersected with Australia’s schedule, because the sources said this summer’s four-Test series between Australia and New Zealand begins in Perth on December 9.