Former England captain Michael Vaughan has responded with sarcasm to Usman Khawaja’s recent claims concerning the 2018 ball-tampering scandal involving the Australian cricket team, questioning why it has taken eight years for such revelations to emerge and suggesting it is time to move on from the controversy.
On November 6, Khawaja, a former Australian batsman, stated that the 2018 ball-tampering incident during the South Africa tour implicated the entire Australian team, including players and support staff, challenging the previously accepted account that only Steven Smith, David Warner, and Cameron Bancroft were responsible. According to Cricket Australia and former players, Smith and Warner were banned for 12 months from international and domestic cricket, while Bancroft received a nine-month suspension.
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In response, Vaughan posted on X, “So we finally now know the most hidden secret in the game … all the Aussie team knew about the sandpaper … 8 yrs later it all comes out … no shit Sherlock … now can we just move on … 👍”
Khawaja told Nine, as reported by Cricinfo, “It was all of us. Not the batters, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us. In an ideal world, I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to be the one who comes out and talks about the truth. The issue is that I genuinely thought after eight years the truth would have been out by now.”
He added that he had urged the Australian team to accept collective responsibility for the scandal, saying, “Even in the change rooms when I was talking to them after the game. I said, ‘Take this as a team’. We did this as a team. We knew what was going on, and we had to take it as a team, and so I was always of that stance. Obviously, it didn’t work that way, and those three guys got crucified. I’ve seen Davey over the last eight years just get nailed bad over and over again, and it’s taken a big man not to say anything and just to stay quiet.”
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