Cummins goes after Khawaja: 'complete and utter nonsense', and friends aren't casual with lives
Marsh ducked. Cummins didn't. Australia's Test captain called Khawaja '100 per cent wrong', turned the sandpaper story back on the man who wrote it, and still left one door half open.
He came to fight, not to file it away
Yesterday in Perth, Mitchell Marsh told reporters he had "personally moved on" and wasn't there to share his story. This morning in Sydney, Pat Cummins walked into Cricket Central, faced more than two dozen local and foreign reporters, and did the opposite.
No "different people have different memories". No "it was dealt with at the time". The Test captain went straight at the central claim in Usman Khawaja's book Sabr: that the whole Australian side in Cape Town in 2018 knew what was going on.
When he says 'we all knew', if by that he means we knew sandpaper was going out on the field, he's 100 per cent wrong. I've said that consistently for the last eight years. I did not know that was happening.Pat Cummins, at Cricket Central in Sydney, via ABC News and ESPNcricinfo
The bigger charge: 'architects'
The denial on its own was expected. Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon have been saying it since 2018, and Starc said it again on Tuesday.
What wasn't expected was Cummins saying the "we all knew" line isn't even the worst of it. In his reading, Khawaja goes further and casts the bowlers as the people who planned it.
"He says that I and others were architects of a scheme to ball tamper with sandpaper," Cummins said. "That's complete and utter nonsense."
That is a very different fight. "We knew" is about silence. "Architects" is about authorship. Cummins chose to contest the second one head on, which tells you how seriously the bowling group is taking the book.
Usman is a friend, but friends aren't casual with each other's lives and reputations. In his book he's been casual with my life and the lives of many others, and I think Australian cricket. I support him to tell his story, 100 per cent, I'm glad he feels like he can, but we have to be accountable for the things that we say and do.Pat Cummins, via ABC News
Then he flipped the sandpaper back
Here is the sharpest moment of the morning. Cummins picked up one of Khawaja's own admissions, that he told Cameron Bancroft to be careful when using the sandpaper, and turned it into a question about Khawaja.
"I was genuinely shocked this week when I found out Usman admitted he told Cam to be careful when using sandpaper," he said. "That's not the Usman that I know. The Usman I know would have stopped that from happening there and then."
It's a clever line, and a pointed one. If Khawaja knew enough to warn Bancroft, Cummins is asking, why is he the one judging everyone else's silence?
He also took on two more of Khawaja's claims. He doesn't remember any team meeting where Khawaja stood up and said "Let's own this as a team". And while Khawaja says he was never interviewed for the Cape Town review, Cummins says he was: "I did my interview, I was totally truthful, I have been very consistent since then from that event until now. Nothing has changed."
Sandpapergate week: where everyone stands now
| Usman Khawaja (Sabr) | Says the Cape Town XI knew; says he told Bancroft to be careful |
| Pat Cummins | '100 per cent wrong' on 'we all knew'; 'architects' claim is 'complete and utter nonsense' |
| Mitchell Starc | 'We weren't aware' (Tuesday) |
| Mitchell Marsh | 'I've personally moved on' (Thursday, Perth) |
| Glenn McGrath | 'They were bloody idiots', but 'only people with agendas' want it kept going |
| Cape Town review | Cummins says he was interviewed; Khawaja says he wasn't |
| Reporters at Cricket Central | More than two dozen, local and foreign |
The half-open door
Read the whole press conference, though, and Cummins didn't shut everything down.
"Some of these things are probably true, and they are his accounts of what happened," he said. "Perhaps there was conversations with Cameron Bancroft around taking sandpaper out and how to do it. That doesn't mean that everyone in that dressing room knew what was going on."
That is a real concession dressed up as a rebuttal. The Australia captain accepts that sandpaper may have been talked about with Bancroft before Cape Town. His line is about who knew, not whether it was discussed.
He also admitted that Khawaja's account of the ball being worked on at the boundary before play "was news to me this week". And he volunteered that the only other blatant tampering he has seen was a senior batter with a bottle cap in a Sheffield Shield game, then wouldn't name him. ABC's Jon Healy pointed out the irony: after accusing Khawaja of being vague, Cummins was "incredibly scant with details" on his own story.
We are here talking about something that was dealt with eight and a half years ago. Now I'm walking my one-and-a-half-year-old daughter with nappies out the front and I got cameras chasing me and my family. For me, that's a bit ridiculous.Pat Cummins, via ABC News
Our take: braver than Marsh, but it won't end it
Credit where it's due. Cummins fronted up to every outlet, used names, and answered the claims one by one. That is more than anyone else from the 2018 bowling group has done this week, and far more than his ODI captain managed in Perth yesterday.
But this isn't a full stop. It's now captain against former team-mate, on the record, with a book on one side and an eight-year-old review on the other. Cummins says he was interviewed and Khawaja says he wasn't. Cummins says there was no team meeting and Khawaja says there was. Somebody's memory is wrong, and "dealt with at the time" no longer covers it.
McGrath wants everyone to leave the past in the past. That boat sailed the moment the Test captain called his friend's book "nonsense". Marsh will be asked about all of it after the 1st ODI against England in Perth. Our earlier piece on Marsh saying he has "moved on" sets up where this goes next.
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