Khawaja memoir sparks fresh allegations against former Australia bowling coach

Former Australia bowling coach David Saker has been accused of asking Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft to conceal their use of sandpaper during the 2018 ball-tampering scandal. The allegations emerged following claims in Usman Khawaja's memoir, Sabr

New Delhi: A fresh detail about the 2018 Sandpaper-gate controversy has emerged, with former Australian bowling coach David Saker accused of asking Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft to lie during a press conference in South Africa about using sandpaper.

Eight years after one of Australian cricket’s most infamous incidents, Usman Khawaja claimed in his memoir, Sabr, that the entire Australian team knew about the ball-tampering attempts and argued that Bancroft, Smith and David Warner should not have been punished alone.

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A report in the Sydney Morning Herald has now claimed that the coach Khawaja has repeatedly referred to in connection with the scandal was then bowling coach David Saker.

The newspaper reported that Saker “urged Smith and Bancroft not to reveal the nature of the yellow object that had been taken onto the field at Newlands at their media conference after play on the day the scandal took off”.

It also alleged that Saker repeatedly told Bancroft and Smith, “you can’t say sandpaper”, before the infamous press conference on the day the scandal broke.

The report further claimed: “Bancroft and Smith were advised by others not to lie, but Bancroft told reporters soon after that it had been tape, not sandpaper, in his possession and that he had been utilising it to lift granules from the pitch to rub on one side of the ball. It wasn’t until Cricket Australia announced sanctions against Smith, Bancroft and David Warner that it was publicly admitted he had actually had sandpaper in his hand.”

However, Saker’s name does not appear in Khawaja’s memoir, although the book contains references to an unnamed coach. One such reference describes a conversation between Bancroft and a coach during the lunch break before Bancroft was caught tampering with the ball.

“With a smile on his face, he said, ‘Bangers, whatever you’re doing, we need more of it. It’s wet out there – we just need more of it.’ Then I saw Bangers pick up a piece of sandpaper and put it in his pocket. The coach gave both me and Cameron a wry smile of satisfaction and walked away,” Khawaja wrote.

Khawaja also wrote about the coach telling the bowlers to take whatever measures they needed to manufacture reverse swing.

“Guys, I don’t care what happens, but Test cricketers are too good against the straight ball,” the unnamed coach said, according to Khawaja.

“We need to get the ball shifting when it gets old. I don’t care what you have to do, or how, but we need to get it moving in the air. That’s the only chance we have,” he added.

Saker, who helped mastermind England’s Ashes victory in Australia in 2010-11, ending a 24-year wait, was also England’s bowling coach for the 2013, 2023 and 2025-26 Ashes series. He had reportedly signed a non-disclosure agreement with Cricket Australia after leaving the organisation in February 2019.

Meanwhile, Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins, who has been criticised for remaining silent since Khawaja made the claims in his memoir, is set to break his silence on the allegations. The veteran pacer will address the media in Sydney on Friday.

However, T20I captain Mitchell Marsh has declined to respond to the explosive 2018 ball-tampering claims, saying he has “moved on” from the episode and does not want “to go back to his recollections” of the time in South Africa.