In his new autobiography 'Sabr', Usman Khawaja sheds light on the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, detailing the use of sandpaper during the Gqeberha Test and revealing how the Australian team collectively managed the ball's condition.

Khawaja's Revelations on Ball Tampering

Former Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja made some revelations about the ball-tampering scandal during the 2018 tour to South Africa, detailing how the Proteas collapsed against reverse-swinging deliveries during the second Test at Gqeberha, pointing to the use of sandpaper to alter the ball's condition during the second Test itself. The 'Sandpapergate' scandal refers to ball-tampering by Australia during the third Test against South Africa at Cape Town, for which then-captain vice-captain Steve Smith and David Warner received one-year competitive cricket bans, while Cameron Bancroft was also handed sanctions, including a nine-month international/domestic cricket ban.

Now in his autobiography titled 'Sabr', Khawaja has detailed the final session on day two of the Gqeberha (then called Port Elizabeth) Test, where Proteas crumbled to 183/6 from 155/2 while replying to Australia's first innings total of 243 runs. He detailed how Australia had used sandpaper before the session started, and its results got one of the bowlers saying it was "silly" how much the ball was moving. In the material published by News Corp, it emerged that Bancroft had volunteered to use sandpaper on the ball before they were eventually caught a Test later at Cape Town.

The left-handed batter did not name any individual bowler during his recounting of the incident and in a later chapter relating to a statement issued by bowlers back in 2021 about not being aware of a foreign object being used on the ball, he wrote, as quoted by Cricinfo, "I am not going to sit here and tell you what the bowlers saw or did not. And I am not here to attack the bowlers. It is been so long now since it happened, and as I have made clear, we made mistakes and made them as a team. And we all stayed silent over the years."

Details of the Gqeberha Test

In Gqeberha, Khawaja wrote that Proteas had managed to get the reverse swing in "less than 25 overs" while it took Australia "40, 50 overs and in this innings at Port Elizabeth, we were not even close". He also wrote that he had warned Bancroft that "it was not Shield cricket", with numbers of cameras keeping an eye on the game. "The next session, we absolutely went through the South Africans. Bangers (Bancroft) had walked onto the field after the break, picked up the ball that the umpires had left on the field, and given it a few twists and turns. The ball came up a treat. The shiny side was shiny and, thanks to sandpaper, the reverse side was really rough and dry," he said.

"Every time during the session the ball was passed to me at gully, I would take a look and think, Wow, even I could reverse swing this ball.. It was ridiculous. The bowlers then went to work and bowled beautifully. Reversing it around corners. We got four wickets for 28 runs."

"It was moving so much that, at one point, one of the bowlers said in the huddle after a wicket, 'Guys, it is going heaps now. Just do not do anything else to it, because it is silly how much it's going.' Most of us laughed. (And we weren't planning to do anything else. The damage had been done to the ball straight after the break)."

"I know what you are probably thinking right now. Did not you guys get caught in Cape Town, not Port Elizabeth? Yes, we did, but who said we did not do it the game before as well?," Khawaja continued. However, a counter-attacking 126* off 146 balls by AB De Villiers took South Africa to 382 in response to the Aussies' first innings total of 243. Khawaja called it "one of the great innings that was epic to watch, especially with how much reverse swing we were getting."

With Proteas in command with a 139-run lead, Australia managed just 239 in their second innings, with Kagiso Rabada taking a six-wicket haul. Proteas were set up 101 to win, which they chased with six wickets to spare. Khawaja recalled that during their second innings while batting, Australia faced a stunning display of reverse swing from the Proteas after 21 overs and the hosts got it way better than the Aussies. "In our second innings, their bowlers were reverse swinging it everywhere, and it started after about 21 overs. We didn't know what they were doing with the ball - all we knew was that they were better than us at getting it to go reverse. And we were using sandpaper," he added.

Internal Tensions and Fallout

During the Cricket Australia (CA) investigation, Khawaja, who recalls standing near Bancroft during the Cape Town Test, was not interviewed. In the chapter detailing the start of coach Justin Langer's stint as a head coach post South Africa series controversy, Khawaja recalled being "pissed off" when one of the bowlers made a TV appearance and denied any knowledge of sandpaper being used by Australians.

"One of the bowlers went on The Back Page TV show and was asked point-blank if he'd known anything about the ball tampering. He flat out denied it. David (Warner) was seething, and understandably so. I remember him texting me and sending the clip," he said.

Khawaja also said that before the final Test at Johannesburg, he wanted to go public with his observations and experience. By that time, bans and sanctions were already handed to the Smith-Warner-Bancroft trio. He approached then head coach Darren Lehmann at the hotel pool. "He listened to what I had to say, and when I finished my rant he just looked at me and said, "Uzzy, unfortunately, this affects everyone, mate, not just you. You can come out and say all this stuff, but will it really help anything? The punishments have already been handed down. If anything, it would only make things worse," recalled the southpaw.

Previous Incidents During The Ashes

Khawaja also detailed how the red cherry was being worked on during the 2017-18 Ashes series against England at home, which preceded the South Africa tour, referring to Perth and Adelaide Tests, which saw the heroics of Aussie pace trio of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins to secure massive wins for their side.

"On day five, Starcy bowled that unforgettable ball to James Vince off the crack," he writes. "We were reverse swinging it late on day five. Actually, we were reverse swinging the ball the game before too - except it was much tougher, because it was the pink ball. But we - and I say 'we', because were a team, whether you did the deed or not - had worked out that, if we raised the flaps up on the quarter seam on that ball, it was almost like it had a rudder on it and it had start reverse swinging.

"And before you start going at me, calm down. The whole world was doing whatever little they could to try and reverse swing the ball," he concluded.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianetnews Editorial staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)