​No revisiting ‘Sandpapergate’: Cricket Australia CEO refuses to re-open investigation over Usman Khawaja’s statement originally appeared on Cricket News.
Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.KEY TAKEAWAYS:Cricket Australia’s chief executive has made his position clear on Sandpapergate. Usman Khawaja’s book revelations have reopened an old and bitter debate.Former teammates are divided, and the board sees little reason to look again.MORE: ‘100% accurate’: David Warner backs Usman Khawaja’s Sandpapergate claims, questions Cricket Australia’s 2018 investigationCA refuses to budge: Why Cricket Australia won’t revisit Sandpapergate despite Usman Khawaja’s bombshellCricket Australia has no plans to go back to ‘Sandpapergate’, and chief executive Todd Greenberg has firmly refused to reopen the investigation despite the startling claims made by Usman Khawaja.The board, he says, is content with how the inquiry into the 2018 ball-tampering affair ended, even though Khawaja now insists that the whole team knew sandpaper was being used on that tour of South Africa.Greenberg’s statement arrived just after David Warner threw his weight behind his old teammate, describing the account as “100 per cent accurate” and calling the original investigation “rushed and botched”.MORE: Khawaja sides with Warner, Smith and Bancroft in ‘Sandpaper scandal’Khawaja tells his side of the story in his autobiography, Sabr, and it appears to clash with a joint statement released in 2021 by Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon.In that statement, the four bowlers said they had no idea the ball was being tampered with. The left-hander has also spoken of his surprise that Cricket Australia never interviewed him, even though he sat beside Cameron Bancroft throughout the Cape Town Test.Greenberg, however, has made it clear that the book alone will not change the board’s mind. He spoke to SEN about the matter, and his comments touched on his respect for Khawaja, his unwillingness to react to headlines and his belief that nothing useful would come from another inquiry.MORE: ‘We knew’: Khawaja blows apart Cummins, Starc’s claims of innocence in sandpaper scandal Getty Images Todd Greenberg’s first reaction to Khawaja’s claims about SandpapergateGreenberg admitted that he had not yet found the time to read the book and said Khawaja had been thoughtful enough to warn him about the release some months earlier.“I haven’t read the book yet. Clearly it is out, but I’ll hopefully get an opportunity to do it, but Usman was good enough to let me know some months ago that he would be releasing a book, and I really appreciated that call,” Greenberg told SEN.He then spoke about the respect he holds for the batter and explained that he had learned about the claims in the same way as everyone else.“First and foremost, I have huge respect for Usman to give his version of events,” he added. “I