Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg has ruled out launching a fresh investigation into the infamous ball-tampering saga of 2018 despite calls to do so after revelations from Usman Khawaja and David Warner that have brought Sandpapergate back into sharp focus.
Warner on Monday night released a video pledging his full support to former opening partner Khawaja, who argues in his new memoir that every player on that fateful tour to South Africa eight years ago deserved equal parts blame for the sandpaper plot.
CA’s official investigation in 2018 found that only perpetrator Cameron Bancroft, captain Steve Smith and deputy Warner were aware of the foul play.
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today
The three were all banned, before later returning to the Test setup and Smith having since captained the side again in Pat Cummins’ absence.
Speaking for the first time since Khawaja’s claims were made public, Greenberg said re-opening the investigation eight years later would achieve nothing.
“You end up at the same intersection where one person’s version of you contradicts the others, and I’m not sure what outcome people are searching for,” Greenberg told SEN on Tuesday morning.
“I think what people want is a single outcome that everyone is aligned up on, but I don’t think that’s possible on this occasion because we have such conflicting views from the same moment in time.
“I’m sure David will release a book, and I’ve no doubt that several others of these champion group of Australian cricketers will release a book. Highly likely, our captain (Cummins) will release a book at some point. Others will also release a book, and unfortunately, I think what we’ll read are differing versions of events.”
Greenberg said the investigation can’t be judged retrospectively, despite admitting it wasn’t exhaustive.
“Trying to second-guess decisions from that time or make an assessment through hindsight I think is an impossible task,” he said.
“Ultimately, the decisions, the deliberations, the sanctions of the past, I don’t think can be fairly judged by the events of today. I think trying to solve that is an impossible outcome.
“Despite the challenges of that, lots of people were interviewed — not everyone was interviewed. I’ve been privy to the transcripts and interviews over that period of time.
“Everyone was encouraged at that time to come forward and have been welcome to do so ever since, and continue to be.”
Asked in 2021 if the Australian bowlers were aware the ball was being tampered with, Bancroft said, “Yeah, I think it’s pretty, probably, self-explanatory”.
That comment prompted the quartet of frontline bowlers that played in the 2018 game — Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon — to release a joint statement denying any knowledge of what was going on.
Former Aussie skipper Michael Clarke, who preceded Smith as captain, is among those calling for CA to re-open the investigation.
“We haven’t moved on, Australian fans have not moved on,” he told 2DayFM Breakfast.
“They can’t trust what’s real. They don’t know the truth. Until this gets re-opened and the truth comes out.
“We had the chance in 2018, the truth didn’t come out. We had the chance in 2021 when (Bancroft) made those comments, the truth didn’t come out.
“Now we’ve got this opportunity. I would just like to see whatever the truth is for it all to come out, allow people to finally tell the truth, and move on.”
Cummins gave little away when asked last month about the upcoming release of Khawaja’s book, the contents of which had been mooted as being explosive.
But the skipper is yet to speak since excerpts from the memoir were published in the past week. Clarke added he “can’t believe” Cummins has remained silent.
“There’s no doubt that you’ll hear from Pat and you’ll hear from other of our players in the coming days or weeks,” Greenberg said.
“I know people are calling for the truth but, in reference to the bowlers, but I think one thing that is clear is they’ve been very consistent from the original investigation back in 2018 in the days that immediately followed this Test match, again in their public statements in 2021, and again in many of my conversations with them over the weekend.
“Their position has remained consistent and hasn’t changed.”
