Australia captain Pat Cummins has described Usman Khawaja's allegation that the entire Australia XI in Cape Town in 2018 knew about the sandpaper use is '100% wrong' and 'complete and utter nonsense'.
Cummins fronted a press conference at Cricket Central in Sydney to respond to allegations in Khawaja's book. He strongly rebutted Khawaja's claims that the entire team knew what was happening in terms of using illegal methods to tamper with the ball.
"When he says we all knew, if by that he means that we knew sandpaper was going out on the field is 100% wrong," Cummins said. "I've said that consistently for the last eight years, I did not know that was happening.
"But I think Usman actually says things that are actually far more serious than that.
"He says that I and others were architects of a scheme to ball tamper with sandpaper. That's complete and utter nonsense. I was genuinely shocked this week when I found out that Usman admitted that he told Cam [Bancroft] to be careful when using sandpaper.
"That's not the Usman that I know. It's not the Usman that I think, or that has been part of a team that's helped rebuild this Australian cricket culture over the last eight years, and you know the Usman that would have stopped that from happening there and then. Usman's a friend, but friends aren't casual with each other's lives and reputations.
"In his book, Ussie has been casual with my lives and the lives of many others, and I think Australian cricket.
"I support his right to tell a story 100%. I'm really glad that he feels like he can, but we have to be accountable for the things that we say and do."
More to come ...