Sydney, November 14: Former Australian opener David Warner has levelled serious allegations against Cricket Australia over its investigation into the 2018 Cape Town ball-tampering scandal. Warner has questioned the credibility of the probe, claiming that Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazlewood were not interviewed during the investigation.
In a post on Instagram, Warner said that, to his knowledge, Cricket Australia had not taken statements from the three bowlers during the 2018 investigation. He questioned how the governing body could conclude that the bowlers knew nothing about the incident if they had not been interviewed.
Warner alleged that the authorities had decided from the beginning whom they wanted to blame. Describing the investigation as “poor”, he said there was an attempt to maintain a narrative that the bowlers knew nothing about the incident.
The controversy surrounding the 2018 scandal has resurfaced following the publication of Usman Khawaja’s autobiography. In the book, Khawaja claims that the entire Australian team knew about the plan to tamper with the ball during the tour of South Africa.
However, current Test captain Pat Cummins rejected Khawaja’s claim, describing it as “100 per cent wrong” on Friday.
Cricket Australia’s 2018 investigation had concluded that only then-captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and Cameron Bancroft knew about the plan. All three were sent home from South Africa, while Warner received a one-year ban.
In 2021, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon and Pat Cummins publicly denied having prior knowledge of the plan. Starc recently reiterated that they were unaware of what had happened on the field. Hazlewood and Lyon have not commented on the latest controversy so far.
Meanwhile, Cricket Australia has decided not to reopen the investigation. In a statement issued on Saturday, the governing body said all players had been given an opportunity to present their accounts during the initial investigation. It added that they had also had opportunities over the past eight years to submit any new evidence.
However, the statement did not specifically clarify whether Starc, Hazlewood and Lyon had been interviewed separately during the original investigation.
