Australia Take a look at captain Pat Cummins is about to answer Usman Khawaja’s allegations concerning the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, saying he wanted time to grasp the claims made within the former opener’s autobiography earlier than addressing them.
Khawaja’s e-book, ‘Sabr’, launched on Tuesday, has introduced the controversy surrounding the Cape City Take a look at towards South Africa in 2018 again into focus. Within the e-book, Khawaja claimed that the complete Australian crew knew concerning the plan to make use of sandpaper to change the situation of the ball.
He additionally alleged that then captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and opener Cameron Bancroft have been made scapegoats by cricket directors regardless of different members of the crew allegedly realizing concerning the plan.
Cummins mentioned he would handle the media on Friday at Cricket Central, the place he’s scheduled to coach forward of New South Wales’ Sheffield Protect match.
“I am coaching at Cricket Central tomorrow morning earlier than the Blues play within the Protect match,” Cummins wrote on ‘X’.
“Pleased to talk with any and all media concerning the occasions of this week at 9.30 am. I’ve taken a while to attempt to higher perceive the lengthy listing and full extent of Uzzy’s allegations so I can reply correctly.”
Khawaja, in the meantime, has withdrawn from interviews to advertise his autobiography after dealing with criticism over his tv interview on Tuesday night. Throughout the interview, he struggled to deal with questions concerning the allegations, together with whether or not Australia’s 4 frontline bowlers, Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon, have been concerned in discussions about ball-tampering.
He was additionally immediately requested whether or not Cummins knew concerning the plan to make use of sandpaper prematurely. Khawaja declined to reply, saying he had solely shared his “reality” within the e-book.
Former Australia captain Michael Clarke has additionally questioned Cummins’ silence on the matter, saying the crew wants to determine what occurred throughout the 2018 Take a look at.
Talking on 2DayFM’s Breakfast with Nath & Emma, Clarke expressed shock that the present Australia captain had not but addressed the allegations publicly.
“I can not consider we’ve not heard from Pat Cummins but, the Australian captain,” Clarke mentioned.
Clarke additionally pointed to the impression of the 2018 scandal on Australian cricket’s management, suggesting that Cummins won’t have turn out to be captain had Smith not been faraway from the position following the incident.