Australia National Cricket Team Pat Cummins has revealed that he witnessed an instance of ball-tampering during a Sheffield Shield match early in his career, while responding to the allegations made by Usman Khawaja about Australia's 2018 tour of South Africa. The Australia captain said a senior batter had used a bottle cap to alter the ball, but insisted that the incident was dealt with by the umpires.

Pat Cummins made the disclosure during his lengthy press conference in Sydney, called to address claims in Khawaja's autobiography, Sabr. The former opener had raised questions about a possible ball-tampering episode during the Port Elizabeth Test in 2018, before the infamous Cape Town scandal. Pat Cummins said he had no knowledge of the alleged incident in Gqeberha and was surprised by the details in the book.

What Usman Khawaja said about Port Elizabeth sandpapering?

Usman Khawaja has reignited the 2018 Sandpapergate controversy in his autobiography Sabr, claiming that Australia had also used sandpaper to alter the ball during the second Test against South Africa in Port Elizabeth, now known as Gqeberha. According to his account, the practice was not limited to the infamous Cape Town Test, where Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera using sandpaper.

Khawaja described an incident on the second day at St George's Park, when Australia were struggling to generate reverse swing compared to the South African bowlers. He claimed that members of the Australian team discussed using sandpaper on the ball and that Bancroft volunteered to carry out the plan. Khawaja also recalled warning Bancroft about the number of cameras covering international cricket, telling him, "this isn't Shield cricket".

In his account, the sandpaper left one side of the ball heavily scuffed, making it easier for Australia's fast bowlers to generate reverse swing. South Africa had begun the final session at 153/2, but lost four wickets for 28 runs as Australia made inroads with the older ball. Khawaja wrote that the ball was moving considerably during that spell.

He did not identify the bowlers involved or directly accuse them of knowing how the ball had been altered. However, his broader claim that the Australian team knew about the use of sandpaper has challenged the long-standing account of the scandal.

That was news to me this week - Pat Cummins on Usman Khawaja's ball-tampering claims

Pat Cummins said Khawaja's description of sandpaper being used near the boundary before a session in Port Elizabeth came as a surprise. He explained that the usual procedure of umpires handing the ball to players in the middle did not match his recollection of the incident.

"That was news to me this week. I had no idea. Even chatting a couple of guys, that was a revelation to us. That was one of the things that really surprised me because that doesn't happen anymore," Pat Cummins said.

"The umpires give the ball out to you in the middle, so I don't remember that. I remember growing up, used to watch for the umpire dropping the ball, but I genuinely don't remember that being the case. I don't know where that stopped. So that was a revelation to me this week."

I won't mention him, but he took a bottle cap out in the field - Pat Cummins

Pat Cummins then recalled the only occasion when he personally witnessed a player attempting to alter the ball during professional cricket. He said it happened in a Sheffield Shield fixture involving a senior New South Wales batter, whose identity he chose not to disclose.

"He was a batter. He was a senior player, I won't mention him, but he took a bottle cap out in the field, and that was the one time I've seen on the field. I was looking at it going, 'Wow, that's not okay.' It was dealt with.

"The umpires knew it as well. They called him out and said, 'You've got to stop that right now.' He was dealt with. That's the only time I've seen something illegal out there," Pat Cummins added.

Notably, Pat Cummins' account concerned a separate domestic match, not the 2018 South Africa tour. He maintained that he had not witnessed the alleged Port Elizabeth sandpapering.