‘People have different views’: Cricket Australia refuses to re-open sandpaper scandal investigation

November 10, 2026 — 9:30am

Cricket Australia chief Todd Greenberg has ruled out re-opening an investigation into the 2018 sandpaper saga, saying members of the Australian team at that time will never agree on how the ball-tampering plot was hatched and carried out.

Greenberg told radio station SEN he had spoken to a number of players since Usman Khawaja’s claims about the events of 2018 surfaced at the weekend in anticipation of his book, Sabr, being released today.

“People have very different views of what happened, and recollections of what happened,” Greenberg said.

Greenberg was CEO of the Australian Cricketers’ Association at the time Australian captain Steve Smith and opening batsmen David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were banned for their role in the ball-tampering at Cape Town.

Khawaja’s book details how the Australian team started using sandpaper in Port Elizabeth – now Gqeberha – in the Test before Bancroft was caught on camera in Cape Town, and he states it was common knowledge within the team.

Greenberg told SEN he respected Khawaja and his right to tell his side of the story candidly, but there were other players in that team whose versions of events differed markedly, and a new inquiry was unlikely to change that.

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Jon Pierik is a sports journalist at The Age. He covers AFL and has won awards for his cricket and basketball writing.Connect via X or email.

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