Updated ,first published
A member of Darren Lehmann’s coaching staff from the 2018 South Africa tour has denied having any knowledge of the sandpaper plot, slamming Usman Khawaja’s assertion it was known by all members of the touring party as “absolutely false”.
As David Warner hit back at Lehmann for downplaying his knowledge of the scandal, Australia’s former batting coach Graeme Hick said he was not aware of the use of sandpaper until footage emerged of Cameron Bancroft on the big screen.
The revelation came on a day when Khawaja pulled out of television and radio interviews to promote his memoir Sabr after his grilling from multiple Walkley winner Sarah Ferguson on the ABC’s 7.30 program, during which he failed to answer key questions about Sandpapergate.
Test captain Pat Cummins is expected to speak publicly for the first time since Khawaja’s explosive claims on Friday, though Cricket Australia said that was yet to be confirmed.
Australia’s stand-in ODI captain Mitch Marsh is due to speak at his pre-game press conference on Thursday ahead of the first game against England, where he is likely to be quizzed on his knowledge of the events from eight years ago.
A close friend of Cummins and a former state teammate of Bancroft, Marsh has told national teammates he is nervous about how he will address the matter, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.
The all-rounder was in the attack at the time South African broadcaster SuperSport aired footage of Bancroft hiding a piece of sandpaper down his trousers.
Hick, Australia’s batting coach from 2016-2020, denied any involvement or knowledge of the plan to use sandpaper in Cape Town and, as claimed by Khawaja, in Port Elizabeth. Lehmann also denied knowledge of the plan and questioned Khawaja’s claim that all members of the team knew.
Khawaja has said the entire squad was complicit in the use of sandpaper and should share the blame instead of allowing his close friend Warner, Bancroft and former captain Steve Smith, who all copped lengthy bans from Cricket Australia, to carry the burden.
Khawaja also claimed a member of the coaching staff had encouraged Bancroft to use sandpaper during an interval of the Cape Town Test.
“I have seen the various statements around the coaches and I’m very disappointed with the broad nature of them,” Hick told this masthead.
“Khawaja puts it simply: ‘It was all of us. Not the batters, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us.’ To me what Khawaja is implying here is absolutely false.
“In regard to any discussions around the ball tampering in Port Elizabeth or Cape Town that took place, I will say in true honesty that I did not hear or know anything!!
“My first knowledge of all this was, like many, when it appeared on the big screen in Cape Town as I was sat on the outside balcony at the time.”
“I have seen the various statements around the coaches and I’m very disappointed with the broad nature of them. “Khawaja puts it simply: ‘It was all of us. Not the batters, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us.’ To me what Khawaja is implying here is absolutely false.”
Graeme Hick
Victoria captain Peter Handscomb, who was on a walkie-talkie to Lehmann in Cape Town after vision emerged of Bancroft on the big screen in Cape Town, said he did not want to speak about the affair.
“I appreciate you have to ask these questions,” Handscomb said after making an unbeaten 131 against Western Australia at the MCG. “I’ve had a nice day today, it’s not really something that I want to comment on right now. I’ll sort of just let the powers of be do their thing.”
Warner took to social media on Wednesday morning and agreed with former International Cricket Council match referee Chris Broad – the father of England great Stuart – that Lehmann should not have been Australia’s coach if he had no idea that sandpaper was being used in Newlands.
“Darren Lehmann surely knew all about it,” said Broad on Talk Radio, after Lehmann denied that “everyone” knew that sandpaper was being used during the infamous third Test between Australia and South Africa in Cape Town in 2018 on ABC radio.
“And if he didn’t, he shouldn’t have been the coach at the time.
“I think he’s got away lightly … OK, he left his job a few months later, but he didn’t get any sanctions.”
Broad, who played 25 Tests for England, also said Lehmann had double standards during his term as Australia’s coach, saying he was “very angry” at his response to his son’s decision not to walk during a controversial Ashes Test in 2013.
“And there he was in 2013, taking the moral high ground against my son, where he played the Australian game of nicking the ball and waiting for the umpire to give him out, and he got given not out on that occasion, and then [Lehmann] came out in the media saying ‘we’re going to make him cry when he comes to Australia next,’” Broad continued.
“And here he is, the coach of the Australian cricket team that brought sandpaper out onto the field of play and denied any knowledge of this happening.
“I’m very angry at Darren Lehmann in this respect.”
Warner has since poured fuel on the fire, backing Broad.
“I couldn’t agree more and that’s hard for me to say!” he responded on X on Wednesday.
Lehmann declined to comment when contacted.
