Australia fans 'can't trust what's real' - Clarke wants ball-tampering investigation reopened

Former Australia captain Michael Clarke has said fans of the national side "can't trust what's real" and has called for the investigation into the 2018 Australia ball-tampering scandal to be reopened.

Clarke's former international team-mate Usman Khawaja claimed the entire team knew about the use of sandpaper to alter the condition of the ball in the third Test against South Africa.

The incident led to bans for captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and fellow batter Cameron Bancroft, but a Cricket Australia investigation found the national side's bowling attack were unaware of the ball-tampering.

Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg, speaking before Clarke's intervention, said he does not see "any compelling reason" to reopen the investigation.

However Clarke said Australian fans "have not moved on" and that the investigation process needs to be restaged.

"They can't trust what's real. They don't know the truth until this gets reopened and the truth comes out," Clarke told 2DayFM.

"We had the chance in 2018. The truth didn't come out. We had the chance in 2021 when [Bancroft] made those comments. The truth didn't come out.

"Now we've got this opportunity. I would just like to see whatever the truth is for it all to come out, allow people to finally tell the truth, and move on."

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In a 2021 interview with the Guardian, Bancroft was asked if the bowlers knew and replied: "It's pretty probably self-explanatory."

Shortly after Bancroft's interview, Australia's bowling attack in the contentious 2018 Cape Town Test issued a joint statement saying they "did not know a foreign substance was taken on to the field".

Pat Cummins featured in that line-up and Clarke said the current Australia Test captain needed to speak on Khawaja's allegations.

"For me, right now, there's more questions than answers," Clarke added.

"I want to know, firstly, did everyone know? Because certain players have come out and said they didn't. I want to know: did they know or not? That's important information so we can get the truth.

"I can't believe we haven't heard from Pat Cummins yet, the Australian captain. Steve Smith lost his job. If this doesn't happen, Tim Paine never captains Australia. And neither does Pat Cummins.

"Pat Cummins would not have captained a game at this stage if 'sandpapergate' didn't happen because Steve Smith would still be captain."

Smith lost his job as Australia captain after receiving a year-long ban for the sandpaper incident and was replaced by Paine. Cummins then took over the Test captaincy in November 2021.

Greenberg said he had not read Khawaja's autobiography in which his claims are made, but said he hoped to do so and that he had "huge respect" for the former batter giving "his version of events".

"There are specific details in his book that contradict the versions that have been provided by others," Greenberg told Sports Entertainment Network.

"I want to be really careful to consider what Usman's actually said, and not respond to the headlines or the subsequent commentary that gets created.

"It's important to attribute his words and not the headlines. It's important to know that back at that time, players were urged to come forward, and they had the opportunity to do so over these past eight years, and that remains the case.

"We have said we're comfortable with the outcome of the investigation based on the information we've received. That includes what we've seen from Usman, and our position hasn't changed on that.

"We don't see any compelling reason to open the investigation or revisit this again. I don't think there's anything that can be gained from that."

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My recollection hasn't changed - Starc

Australia seamer Mitchell Starc has said he is disappointed by Khawaja's allegation that the entire team knew about the use of sandpaper.

The quartet of bowlers in the Cape Town Test - Starc, Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon - remain fixtures in the Australia red-ball side.

Speaking at a season launch event in Sydney, Starc stated he hadn't "really paid much attention" to the media coverage of Khawaja's claims.