The Australian ball-tampering scandal in 2018 has come back to the surface after former opener Usman Khawaja claimed the entire team and dressing room knew about the plot.

Khawaja made the revelations in an extract from his autobiography Sabr, and now former vice-captain David Warner has thanked him for coming forward.

Warner and captain Steve Smith were both hit with one-year bans having admitted to have used sandpaper to rough up the ball during their Test Series with South Africa, while fellow batsman Cameron Bancroft was handed a nine-month ban.

Our cricket expert Richard Mann has his say on the controversy that has plagued Australian cricket over the past eight years.

So, what did Australia do in 2018?

In 2018, Australia’s tour of South Africa ended in turmoil as three members of the away team admitted to ball-tampering after rookie Cameron Bancroft was caught using sandpaper on the ball in the third Test in Cape Town. 

The series had already been ill-tempered, with a number of flashpoints involving players from both sides, but the world watched on in horror as the SuperSport camera team expertly caught Bancroft in the act, delivering footage that will be rewatched for years to come.   

Cameron Bancroft caught in the act

Bancroft, then only 25, was hauled in front of the media immediately after the close of play, along with captain Steve Smith, who admitted he had been involved in discussions that led to Bancroft using sandpaper to change the condition of the ball and thus try to gain an advantage.

In essence, the Australian cricket team admitted to cheating.

Vice-captain David Warner later put his hand up and confessed to his part in proceedings, and he and Smith were subsequently stripped of their roles and handed down those 12-month bands, with Bancroft banned for nine months.

Smith and Warner eventually returned to the Australia team, but Bancroft never played for his country again. Head coach Darren Lehhmann, though denying all knowledge of the plot, resigned.

Bowlers Pat Cummins, who is the current Australia captain, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon later released a joint statement insisting they were unaware the ball was being tampered with, but rumours of their involvement have swirled ever since.

Warner is reported to have told England players that Australia had been applying sandpaper to the ball in the Ashes series prior, which would certainly make sense watching the cricket and the extravagant amount of reverse swing Australia’s bowlers were getting in that series in conditions not generally associated with reverse swing.

What has Khawaja said?

The bombshell came this weekend, with an extract from Usman Khawaja’s upcoming book claiming ‘it was all of us’, and that the whole team and coaching staff knew of Australia’s ball-tampering plot.

Khawaja asserts that he argued at the time for the whole team to take collective responsibility, something Lehmann has again denied, only for Warner to release a video on social media on Monday morning stating that Khawaja ‘is one hundred per cent accurate’.

Khawaja has also released his own video since, saying it was time for the truth to come out and that he had made Warner, a childhood friend, a promise that he would one day tell the world the truth.

He also states that he was never interviewed as part of the initial investigation carried out by Cricket Australia, despite sitting next to Bancroft in the changing rooms in Cape Town.

Why has Khawaja only spoken up now?

The fact that Khawaja was an active member of the Test side at that point, and for a period the ODI set-up, would appear to have compelled the 39-year-old to stay quiet.

Having watched Smith, Warner and Bancroft receive strong punishments, he likely felt his future chances of selection would be harmed were he to speak up.

It's worth remembering that Khawaja wasn't always an automatic pick in those days, and it was only when he was tried as an opener in the home Ashes series of 2021 that he finally secured his long-term place in the side.

Therefore, he may have felt dispensable had he opted to sitck his head above the parapet.

However, with Christmas coming and a book to sell, there are many Australian fans taking a more cynical view of Khawaja's actions.

Do you think Cummins should resign?

It seems unlikely at this stage, but whether he will and whether he should are different points.

I suspect Cummins will stick to the script. Admitting to have lied to the Australian public would likely leave his position as captain untenable and with an away Ashes series to come this summer, and one final chance for this team to win in England, there is much to lose.

Matters are complicated by the fact Cummins has just overseen another series defeat in South Africa, one in which he bowled poorly and was the weak link in the Australia attack. Prior to that, Australia could only draw a two-match series against Bangladesh at home when Cummins was again at the helm.

Usman Khawaja and Pat Cummins

So there is already pressure on Cummins, with perennial super-sub Scott Boland unaffected by events in Cape Town and having made an outstanding case to be included in the starting XI for the first Test of Australia’s next assignment against New Zealand next month.

I believe the time is right for Cummins to step down as captain. At 33 years of age, there is no reason why Cummins the bowler can’t recapture something close to his best form and remain a force for a good few years yet, but the Cummins we have seen so far this year has been a long way short of that.

This weekend’s developments might just be another sign that the time is right for Cummins to return to the ranks and earn his stripes as a frontline bowler again.

However, given Warner is hardly the most trustworthy character and so far stands as Khawaja’s key witness, the charge is already on shaky ground, even before you consider that many believe this is purely a publicity stunt ahead of the book release. Cummins might think this will blow over quickly.

I suspect it will be tight lips for now, with no change at the top expected for the New Zealand series, but the Kiwis might fancy they should start favourites for that one, and it will likely prove a big few weeks for Cummins the captain and Cummins the bowler.

What impact does this have on his legacy?

If Khawaja’s allegations were somehow proven to be true, it wouldn't reflect badly on all three seamers in question.

We have been told for over a decade what a special trio of fast bowlers they are, the Big Three, but if it becomes fact that they felt the need to resort to cheating in order to compete with South Africa’s batting line-up, what does that say about them as bowlers, let alone human beings?

Reverse swing and ball-tampering has long been a moot point in cricket, and it is well known that England’s Fab Four used to mints to help with shining the ball in the 2005 Ashes. All of this has never been denied, and when is comes to legacy, the likes of Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard have nothing on Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood.

But there is a big difference between chewing mints in order to help fielders shine the ball better, something that had long been done until the COVID-19 pandemic, and taking sandpaper over the ropes and deliberately changing the condition of the ball.

Is it that Cummins and co didn’t believe they were good enough to bowl at AB de Villiers with a normal cricket ball, that their skills were deficient in the face of greatness? De Villers averaged 71.16 in that series and made an unbeaten hundred in the second Test in Port Elizabeth, against a ball that was reversing extravagantly, that was amongst the best I’ve seen. Australia’s bowlers were bereft of ideas.

Australia's bowing attack

Cummins still enjoyed a good series, Starc and Hazlewood less so, but so they should have, given they had placed themselves at such an advantage.

While the main question is where the truth really lays, cricket fans might ask why should we believe that 2018 was a one-off and, if it wasn’t, just how good are these blokes when they can’t cheat the rules?

Very good would still be the answer, but it certainly didn’t look a vintage attack in South Africa last month as the Proteas ground them into the ground, and it feels like a little bit of gloss has been removed from this otherwise shiny toy.

My hunch is that Cummins and co will deny all allegations, and with Lehmann already rebuffing them, it does as if the main players have already resolved to stick together, but mud can stick, and this is doing the current Australia captain no favours whatsoever.

Who takes charge if Cummins does resign?

Were Cummins to step down the current state of this Australia team means viable captaincy alternatives are thin on the ground.

Smith is the current vice-captain and led the team brilliantly in last winter’s Ashes when Cummins only played one match in Adelaide.

Smith was only forced to step down in 2018 because of the ball-tampering scandal but, if anything, his own reputation has been enhanced by Khawaja’s claims, painting Smith as a captain who would become one of the fall guys to protect his teammates.

There would be a poetic irony if this whole sorry business eventually brought about the downfall of another Australian captain, and in the end handed Smith back the role he shed tears over when he was forced to step down.

With those doubts about Cummins’ bowling output at present, I wouldn’t mind betting that Smith is back in charge for next year’s Ashes in England.

Before then, it promises to be a rocky ride for Australian cricket.