Cummins denies Khawaja's sandpaper claims as Warner accuses him of 'blame-shifting'

Pat Cummins has rejected Usman Khawaja's claims that the entire Australian squad knew about the use of sandpaper during the 2018 Cape Town Test, describing the allegations as "complete and utter nonsense" and "100% wrong".

Cummins made his case at a press conference at Cricket NSW's Sydney headquarters, a week after Khawaja's autobiography, Sabr, reopened the ball-tampering saga. He told reporters there was "no masterplan around using illegal methods" and insisted he had no knowledge of the plot in South Africa.

The press conference ran for 68 minutes as Cummins sought to address the full scope of Khawaja's allegations in detail.

The response had been flagged in advance. Cummins posted on social media that he was "happy to speak with any and all media about the events of this week" and said he had "taken some time to try and better understand the long list and full extent of Uzzy's allegations so I can respond properly".

Khawaja's book argues that the wider playing group, including Cummins, was aware of the plan to tamper with the ball and should have shared responsibility for the episode. Much of the fallout since publication has centred on whether Cummins and the bowlers who remain in the current squad - Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon - knew what was being planned.

David Warner, who served a twelve-month suspension over the scandal, used a live television appearance to back Khawaja's version of events and accuse Cummins of shifting blame onto his former teammate. Warner said he stands firmly behind Khawaja, that he cannot simply move on from the episode, and suggested he may yet give his own account of what happened in Cape Town, according to Yahoo Sports.

Cricket Australia's interim chair, David Boon, had already moved to shore up Cummins's position before the press conference, telling The Australian the board retains full confidence in the captain. "We absolutely support Pat," Boon said. "He's been an exemplary captain, he's led the team with integrity and very successfully over the period of time that he's been captain, so there's no question of our confidence in him continuing on in that fact."

The row had already overshadowed preparations for Australia's one-day series against England. On Thursday, standing in as 50-over captain for Cummins, Mitchell Marsh repeatedly declined to engage with questions about sandpapergate at his own press conference.

Marsh, 35, was Australia's bowler when the tampering came to light during the 2018 Cape Town Test and is leading the white-ball side for the series that begins on Friday. Asked directly for his view, he said: "I'm not here to go back on my recollections of South Africa." He added, "This is my choice not to go back there," before suggesting, "Who knows maybe I will write a book one day."

With Warner now publicly contradicting his captain and Marsh declining to revisit the episode, the dispute over what the 2018 squad knew looks set to run alongside Australia's one-day series against England, which starts on Friday.