Khawaja's book reopens the sandpaper scandal, and Warner backs him

Usman Khawaja says the knowledge of sandpaper use in the Australian dressing room went beyond the three players punished for the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal. He makes the claim in a book released this month, which also criticises Cricket Australia's investigation into the affair.

Ball-tampering means changing the ball's surface illegally, usually to help bowlers make it swing through the air. In 2018, during a Test against South Africa in Cape Town, television cameras showed Cameron Bancroft putting sandpaper down the front of his trousers. The incident set off one of the biggest crises in Australian cricket in years.

Cricket Australia's investigation found that Bancroft, captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner knew of the plan to use sandpaper. Smith and Warner were banned for 12 months, and Bancroft received a nine-month ban. Khawaja's book, titled Sabr, now argues the circle was wider.

According to The Guardian, Khawaja claims that all of Australia's touring party knew about the plot. He also says Bancroft first offered to use sandpaper during the earlier second Test in Port Elizabeth, and that Smith walked away from tampering talk in the dressing room there. Khawaja dedicated the sandpapergate chapter to Bancroft, Warner and Smith.

In a later report, The Guardian reported that Khawaja describes a coach approaching him and Bancroft about sandpaper in Cape Town. Former head coach Darren Lehmann told ABC he was not aware of the conversation Khawaja describes. On ABC Sport's Grandstand, Lehmann had also said he did not believe every member of the touring party would have known about the plot.

Warner has backed his former teammate. He called Cricket Australia's investigation "rushed and botched", and said Khawaja's account in the book is "100% accurate". These are Warner's words.

Khawaja also describes a conversation with then-team manager Gavin Dovey after the Cape Town Test. He says he told Dovey: "We need to cop this as a team. We did it as a team, so we cop it as a team." Dovey is now chief executive of Cricket NT, the Northern Territory's cricket body.

For casual fans, the core question is simple. Who knew, and how far did it go? Those questions were the centre of the 2018 punishments, and Khawaja's book puts them back on the table eight years later. The allegations about the wider dressing room are Khawaja's own account.