‘I was left with a blank wall’: Longstaff on Sandpapergate investigation

New Delhi: Dr Simon Longstaff, the ethics expert commissioned by Cricket Australia (CA) to review the culture of the men’s team in 2018, has said his offer to allow players to speak the truth about the Sandpapergate scandal was met with silence, leaving him with a “blank wall”.

The ball-tampering controversy has resurfaced following claims in Usman Khawaja’s book, Sabr, that the entire Australian team knew about the scandal during the 2018 Cape Town Test and that sandpaper had also been used in the preceding Test match.

Australia’s Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins has denied the allegations, describing them as “complete and utter nonsense”, while David Warner has backed Khawaja and criticised Cricket Australia.

Speaking to Nine’s Weekend Today on Saturday, Longstaff, who reviewed the team’s culture in the aftermath of the scandal and described CA as “arrogant”, said he had given players an opportunity to tell their version of events, but nobody changed their statements.

He said he had heard “whispers” almost immediately that more people knew about the ball-tampering than the three players who were sanctioned, and that the practice predated the Cape Town Test.

“We’re talking effectively about … good people who made bad decisions, so that’s where we looked,” he said, as quoted by Nine.com.au.

“Along the way, there were whispers, and I can’t put it any more strongly than that, that something else had gone on earlier and that more people had known.

“When we came to look into that – because I couldn’t turn a blind eye to it once the suggestion was made – I afforded the senior people I spoke with an opportunity … ‘Well, is there something else you want to say about the whole circumstance?’

“Nobody chose to make any alteration to their statement, so I was left with basically a blank wall. Some people saying one thing, others another, but not sufficient to be able to say there needs to be a further inquiry at that time,” he added.

In his book, Khawaja wrote that he had been “waiting for (his) phone to ring” because he wanted to be part of CA’s investigation, but was never interviewed.

“I thoroughly feel that I didn’t get interviewed because of that, because they knew that I wanted to take it as a team, because they knew I was ready to tell the truth if I was interviewed,” Khawaja wrote.

“And I was waiting for my phone to ring. It just never rang, and then the penalties were given, and I couldn’t believe it.”

Longstaff said several people had been invited to participate in the investigation, while others declined, and he could not recall whether Khawaja had been invited.

“I can’t remember exactly who it was that was given the opportunity to contribute to our review, which went much further than just the players involved,” he said, as quoted in the report.

“It looked at the whole of Cricket Australia, sponsors, supporters … past Test players to see what the comparison could be. Not everybody we invited to participate in our review chose to accept that invitation. They had the liberty not to.

“Anything they were to say was under strict conditions of confidentiality, which, of course, we’re bound to respect even today.”

Longstaff also commented on Cummins’ response to Khawaja’s claims, describing the captain’s press conference as “absolutely convincing in his sincerity”.

“That stands against Usman Khawaja’s claim that everybody knew, so there’s a clear contradiction there,” he said.

“If Cummins did not know, and I believe he didn’t, then not everybody knew. But that leaves a different question.

“Was it that many other people did know, if not Cummins? And is Khawaja being sincere in his belief … that if not everybody, there was a considerably larger number (that knew). Now we just don’t know.

“There have been consistent denials from the bowling team as a whole, and that stands in contrast now to what Usman Khawaja and David Warner are both asserting.

“To that end, I think, although it’s so messy, there has to be some explanation which could be found. I’ve spent a career looking into questions like this, and inevitably, when you find this kind of conflict of opinion, there is a reason behind it.

“It’s just a question of whether or not Cricket Australia wants to determine what that is,” he added.