Ex-Australia bowler Sayers says everyone knew about 'Sandpapergate'

详细摘要

The tampering, discovered during the third Test at Newlands in Cape Town, led to former captain Steve Smith and vice captain David Warner being banned for 12 months ...

Former Australia Test bowler Chadd Sayers backed Usman Khawaja's claims about the Sandpapergate scandal on Sunday, saying he believes everyone in the side during the 2018 tour of South Africa knew sandpaper was being used to alter the condition of the ball.

The tampering, discovered during the third Test at Newlands in Cape Town, led to former captain Steve Smith and vice captain David Warner being banned for 12 months by Cricket Australia (CA) from elite cricket. Cameron Bancroft received a nine-month suspension for his part in the incident.

Khawaja wrote in his autobiography "Sabr: Finding my way in Cricket and Life", released on Tuesday, that knowledge of the plan was not limited to the three players who were punished and was more widespread within the team.

In the wake of the new allegations, CA has ruled out reopening its 2018 investigation, while Warner has accused the sports body of orchestrating a cover-up by ignoring key witnesses and seeking to pin blame on three players.

"I believe that everyone in that side knew what was going on and what was being used," Sayers told SEN radio.

Sayers, 39, also echoed Khawaja's claim that sandpaper was used during the second Test at Port Elizabeth, saying he was the player who removed it from the field.

"It (sandpaper) was given to me to take off, so that wasn't planned or anything. I was just the player who took the drinks out at the time ... it was passed on to me," he said.

Sayers, who made his only Test appearance for Australia in the fourth Test of the 2018 South Africa tour, said he was never interviewed as part of CA's inquiry.

He added that maybe it was because he was 12th man and didn't play in the game or perhaps because he knew too much information. "I'm not too sure," he said.

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