Cricket Australia‘s chief executive has ruled out a new inquiry into the infamous ball-tampering scandal of 2018, despite the affair being back in the headlines after explosive revelations from Usman Khawaja.
Khawaja claims in his new autobiography that the entire team knew about the plot to rub the ball with sandpaper to generate reverse swing, which was exposed during the Cape Town Test against South Africa that year.
At the time only Cameron Bancroft, who was caught on TV cameras tampering with the ball, captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner were sanctioned, the former for nine months and the latter two for a year.
None of the rest of the team admitted responsibility, with the bowling unit of now-captain Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon releasing a statement in 2021 denying any knowledge of the plot.
However, those claims have come under scrutiny since Khawaja alleged “all of us” knew about it, with Warner backing his friend and former teammate “100%”.
But Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg has ruled out a fresh inquiry into the scandal.
He 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 is expected to be forced to address the matter in the coming days.
Discover more from NAIRAVOICE.COM.NG
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
