Wasim Akram Weighs In on Sandpapergate After Khawaja’s Claims

Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram has joined the debate over Australia's 2018 ball-tampering scandal. In a video message on Saturday, he said sandpaper marks on a ball look nothing like ordinary scratches, but added that the Australian team probably did not know what was happening.

The row was reignited after Usman Khawaja, who retired earlier this year after 88 Tests, claimed the whole Australian squad was aware of the plan during the Cape Town Test against South Africa.

What Akram said

Akram said he had been following the controversy for a couple of weeks. He referred to Khawaja's book, Sabr, and described Australia captain Pat Cummins as a very close friend, a great cricketer and one of the top leaders in world cricket today.

Because Cummins has said he did not know, Akram suggested the team may not have been aware at the time. "So probably the team didn't know at the time what was happening, in my opinion. It's my opinion. It can be right or wrong," he said.

He then drew on his own experience as a fast bowler. Bowlers look after the ball whether it is five, 10 or 50 overs old, he explained, shining one side. On a dry surface, a one-bounce throw can also leave small scratches.

But the sandpaper scratch is totally different from the one-bounce scratch.

Wasim Akram, former Pakistan captain

Sandpaper versus normal wear

Akram stressed that the two types of mark are not the same. He invited cricket fans to test it by rubbing sandpaper on a semi-new ball and comparing the result.

He said he was not taking anybody's side. He also praised Australians for their straightforwardness, their hardness on the field and, above all, their honesty, and said the nation had been under some stress over the matter.

Morgan reads it differently

English broadcaster Piers Morgan responded on social media by interpreting Akram's remarks as a hint that the Australian bowlers must have noticed the tampering. "This is Wasim's very polite way of saying the Aussie bowlers all knew the ball had been sandpapered. They should stop lying and tell the truth," he wrote.

That is Morgan's reading. Akram himself said he was not taking anybody's side.

Background to the row

In March 2018, cameras caught Cameron Bancroft using sandpaper on the ball during the Cape Town Test. Cricket Australia investigated and banned Steve Smith and David Warner for a year each, and Bancroft for nine months.

Ahead of the release of his autobiography, Khawaja disputed the finding that only three players knew in advance. "It was all of us. Not the batters, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us," he said. Warner has called Khawaja's account "100 percent accurate" and criticised the 2018 inquiry as rushed and flawed.

Cummins rejected the claims at an hour-long press conference on Friday, calling them "100 per cent wrong" and "complete and utter nonsense". He also denied there had been a team meeting or a broader plan. Former Australian pacer Chadd Sayers, however, backed Khawaja. He alleged that sandpaper was used in the second Test at Port Elizabeth and that he was the one who removed it from the field.

Cricket Australia says it is satisfied with its original findings and sees no compelling reason to reopen the case.

Image: The original uploader was PaddyBriggs at English Wikipedia. / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain