David Warner, the former Australian opener, has come out in support of Usman Khawaja yet again, after Pat Cummins dismissed the latter’s claims about the entire team knowing about the use of sandpaper in the 2018 Cape Town Test as ‘complete and utter nonsense’.
Warner was critical of Cummins’ defense on Friday, which lasted 69 minutes, stating that the captain had thrown Khawaja ‘under the bus’ with his response. “I still stick by Uzzy and what he’s written in that book, because it is the truth, and I really, really support him,” Warner told Fox Sports on the sidelines of the first ODI between Australia and England in Perth. “I actually feel for him at the moment. I actually feel that today, the captain threw Uzzy under the bus, and I’m very, very disappointed about that.”
Warner was one of the three players banned after Cameron Bancroft was spotted using sandpaper on the ball in the Newlands Test. Following Cummins’ statement on Friday, Warner offered a reminder that he, along with Steve Smith and Bancroft, had to pay the biggest price in the aftermath of the incident.
“All three of us have paid a big price in this thing. I hadn’t spoken about it in eight years, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to live with these consequences daily,” Warner said. “We’ve been served a life punishment. When other people talk about [how] they’ve been affected by it, there’s nothing worse for me, Steve and Cam, who have to walk out there every day and we cop abuse.
“Yes, we accepted it, but at the end of the day, my wife and I paid the greatest price. We lost a baby during that time. That’s why it really hurts me the most until the truth is accepted.”
While Warner has sided with the statements of Khawaja, Mitchell Starc, Cummins and Mitchell Marsh haven’t changed their stance on the issue. Smith and Bancroft are yet to express their opinion on the incident publicly.
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