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Live sport on SN this weekendWarner accuses Cricket Australia of 'cover up' as sandpaper row flares
Mohen Govender, Justin Chadwick & Joel Gould, AAP • November 14th, 2026 5:05 pm
David Warner has taken aim at Cricket Australia over sandpapergate in a fresh Instagram post | Photo: Richard Wainwright/AAP
David Warner has blasted Cricket Australia for its handling of the sandpapergate scandal in a fresh Instagram post, as the infamous ball-tampering row remains in the spotlight.
Warner, who was Steve Smith's vice-captain at the time, was slapped with a 12-month suspension and banned from all leadership roles in Australian cricket for his part in the 2018 incident in Cape Town.
The former Test opener accused CA of conducting a 'shoddy investigation' and a 'cover up.'
"As far as I am aware, CA did not interview Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc or Nathan Lyon in their 2018 investigation.
"If that's correct then how can CA push the idea that the bowlers didn't know?
"It looks like they had decided who they wanted to blame from the very beginning ran a shoddy investigation to serve the purpose and now they want to maintain the false narrative that the bowlers had no idea.
"That stinks of a cover up."
Cricket Australia later responded to Warner's post.
"As we have stated previously, all players were given the opportunity to speak at the time of the initial investigation and have had the ability to come forward with new evidence in the eight years since."
After the investigation, Smith was also banned from cricket for 12 months and stripped of the captaincy. Cameron Bancroft, who was spotted by television cameras with sandpaper in his pocket, was sidelined for nine months.
David Warner is standing by all of Usman Khawaja's allegations | Photo: Robert Duong/AAP
With the row already dividing opinion and causing a major rift, ex-Australia captain Greg Chappell had earlier urged the country's past and present stars to end their civil war.
Usman Khawaja sent the cricket world into a spin last week when he claimed the entire Test team that played in Cape Town in 2018 knew of the plot to tamper with the ball.
The fallout continues to make headlines eight years after the episode.
Test skipper Pat Cummins delivered an extraordinary 70-minute press conference in Sydney on Friday where he provided an open floor for journalists to ask whatever they wanted in regards to sandpapergate 2018 and ball tampering in general, among other hot topics.
Australian captain Pat Cummins addresses 'sandpapergate' allegations made by Usman Khawaja | Video: AAP
The 33-year-old steadfastly rejected claims he had any prior knowledge of the 2018 plot to use sandpaper on the ball in order to gain reverse swing.
He also hit out at Khawaja, saying the accusations were "complete nonsense" and suggested they were "probably defamatory".
Warner returned serve just hours after the press conference, saying he stood by all of Khawaja's claims and wouldn't rest until the full truth came out.
He also accused Cummins of throwing Khawaja under the bus with his sandpaper denials.
Chappell knows a thing or two about controversy.
In 1981, and with NZ requiring six runs off the final ball to force a draw in a one-day match at the MCG, then-Australia captain Chappell ordered his younger brother Trevor Chappell to bowl the last delivery underarm.
Greg Chappell, who's known cricket controversy, doesn't want to see Australian cricket "eat itself" | Photo: Joel Carrett/AAP
While technically legal at the time, the move caused a massive backlash and forced a rule change, with the incident still brought up to this very day.
"Good luck with that. I think 45 years tells me it will probably be a while before it gets trumped," Chappell replied when asked if 'sandpapergate' had finally trumped the underarm controversy.
"Mistakes have been made, I think you have to own them.
"It would've been a tough time back in 2018 with all of that going on. I don't think you're always ready for these disasters when they happen, but we all make mistakes and they're all human beings.
"They're going to make mistakes, and I think we have to accept that and own those decisions, as I had to do 45 years ago."
Chappell doesn't want the in-fighting in Australian cricket to continue.
"We don't want to see Australian cricket eating itself and having a little spat within the family," Chappell said.
"Hopefully Pat's put a bit of a line under it and we can start getting on with the summer of cricket.
"It'll be a distraction, but I think they've all had enough experience that when they walk out on the cricket field there's only one thing they're thinking about."
Pat Cummins was described as "a very honourable man" by one of predecessors as skipper | Photo: Robbie Stephenson/AAP
As for Cummins' claims of having no knowledge of the plan to tamper with the ball?
"We have to believe it," Chappell said.
"Pat's a very honourable man and very talented on the field, but I think he's very talented off the field as well.
"I think from a cricket point of view they just need to move on and focus on what's in front of them."
Khawaja was due to make an appearance at a book-signing event in Merrylands on Saturday, but publishers Pelican said it unfortunately had to be postponed.
