Former Australia opener David Warner has accused Cricket Australia (CA) of running a flawed investigation into the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, alleging that the governing body had already decided whom to blame before the inquiry began. Warner's broadside, posted on Instagram on Saturday, centres on the claim that senior fast bowlers Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, and Nathan Lyon were allegedly never interviewed during CA's internal probe.

What Warner Alleged

Warner, who served a 12-month suspension alongside former captain Steve Smith following the Cape Town Test controversy, questioned how CA could conclude the frontline bowlers had no prior knowledge of the plan to alter the ball's condition if it never spoke to them.

'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,' Warner wrote.

How the Controversy Reignited

The renewed furore follows the release of batter Usman Khawaja's autobiography, Sabr, in which he claimed that knowledge of the ball-tampering plan extended well beyond the three sanctioned players — Smith, Warner, and Cameron Bancroft — and involved a much broader section of the dressing room. Khawaja's account has reignited a debate that many in Australian cricket had considered closed.

Cummins and Warner Clash Over Khawaja's Claims

The controversy quickly fractured the Australian cricket camp. On Friday, red-ball captain Pat Cummins held a fiery 68-minute press conference in which he called Khawaja's assertions 'complete and utter nonsense' and '100% wrong' regarding players' awareness of the sandpaper on the field. Cummins also pushed back sharply on Khawaja's race-based captaincy claim, saying it was a serious allegation that required evidence and that Khawaja had been 'casual and flippant with people's lives and reputations.'

Warner, speaking during commentary on the first ODI between Australia and England on the same day, took the opposing position — backing Khawaja's version of events as '100 per cent accurate' and accusing Cummins of throwing Khawaja 'under the bus.'

Wider Context and What It Means

The 2018 Sandpapergate scandal remains the most damaging episode in modern Australian cricket history, culminating in bans for Smith, Warner, and Bancroft. Warner's ban was notable for carrying a leadership ban for life — later overturned in 2023. The re-emergence of competing accounts, spurred by Khawaja's memoir, raises uncomfortable questions about how thoroughly CA investigated the incident at the time and whether accountability was selectively applied. This is not the first occasion Warner has disputed the official narrative; he has previously signalled dissatisfaction with how the investigation was handled. With CA yet to publicly respond to the specific allegation that Hazlewood, Starc, and Lyon were not interviewed, the controversy shows little sign of abating.