Mitchell Starc sticking to his sandpapergate story after Usman Khawaja claims
Khawaja claims the entire Australia squad were aware of the plot to tamper with the ball against South Africa back in 2018.
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Mitchell Starc reiterated his innocence in relation to the sandpaper scandal of 2018 as Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg ruled out a fresh inquiry.
The ball tampering saga is firmly back on the agenda thanks to Usman Khawaja’s new autobiography, in which he claims the team had engaged in the illegal practice before the Cape Town Test where Cameron Bancroft was caught red-handed, and that the entire Australia squad were aware of the plot.
At the time captain Steve Smith and deputy David Warner were handed 12-month bans, with Bancroft handed a nine-month suspension due to his rookie status. The original probe found nobody else culpable, a position which has always attracted scepticism and seems increasingly implausible given Khawaja’s recollections.
Starc, plus fellow fast bowlers Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood and spinner Nathan Lyon released a carefully worded statement in 2021 denying any knowledge of the specific ball-tampering which was exposed at Newlands.
And speaking at a press conference in Sydney on Tuesday, Starc said: “I haven’t paid much attention to it. Obviously there’s differing opinions of eight years ago.
“We were heavily grilled through the process at the time (and) since (then). Now, I won’t speak on behalf of the bowlers but, where I stand, my opinion hasn’t changed, my recollection hasn’t changed from what we said in 2021.”
Asked if everyone knew, Starc said: “It’s in a book, that’s for someone to explain further. As far as our statement said, we weren’t aware of sandpaper being taken on the field.
“We weren’t aware anything was taken on the field to be tampered with. We saw it on the big screen in Cape Town. As far as the book’s concerned, I haven’t read it and probably won’t read it, so that’s for Usman to elaborate on.”
Khawaja’s bombshell allegations were backed up by Warner, who said on Monday: “I thank you for what you’ve done. It’s 100 per cent accurate what you’ve said. Now everyone knows the truth.”
Despite mounting pressure amid varying accounts from senior players in the same dressing room, Greenberg has come out to quash calls for CA to revisit the matter.
Greenberg told SEN radio station: “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.
“We have said we’re comfortable with the outcome of the investigation based on the information we’ve received. That includes what we’ve seen from Usman, and our position hasn’t changed on that.
“There’s absolutely no benefit in going back, that’s the clear position of the CA board. I think it’s fine, we’ve got to look ahead, and the matter was dealt with under a previous leadership back in 2018.
“Trying to second-guess decisions from a previous time or making an assessment through the prism of hindsight is not something we want to do.”
He added: “When you cut to the core of the challenge that we face here, Usman’s version of events is inconsistent with what others have had to say.
“I can assure you there are lots of other players who have a very, very different version of events. And they have made that very public from the very start of 2018, they have been very consistent in their position right through until today.
“From my conversations with many over the weekend, I don’t think that will change either.”
Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood have all been rested from this month’s white-ball series against England but stand-in one-day captain Mitch Marsh was part of the 2018 series and will surely be forced to address the matter in the coming days.
