SYDNEY - Australia Test captain Pat Cummins has rejected claims by former team-mate Usman Khawaja that the entire team was implicated in the 2018 sandpaper scandal, calling them "complete and utter nonsense", according to The Guardian.
The Guardian reported that Cummins said he did not know of a ball tampering plot in South Africa and that there was no plan to use illegal methods. The report, written by Caitlin Cassidy in Sydney, described Cummins's remarks as coming at a press conference.
BBC News also reported that Cummins hit back at Khawaja over the sandpaper scandal, describing the claims as "100% wrong".
According to The Guardian's summary, the dispute centers on the 2018 sandpaper scandal, which the outlet's headline calls sandpapergate. The summary does not detail the evidence Khawaja cited for his claims. Neither outlet's summary says whether Khawaja has responded to Cummins's comments.
BBC News's summary identified Khawaja as a former team-mate of Cummins and did not mention a press conference, which The Guardian's report described. The Guardian's summary also addresses whether the team planned to use illegal methods, a point the BBC News summary does not cover.
Neither summary gives a full account of what Khawaja said, so the scope of his claims is reported only as the claim that the entire team was implicated.
Sources: The Guardian: Australia Test captain Pat Cummins calls Khawaja's sandpapergate claims ‘complete and utter nonsense’; BBC News: 'Wrong' and 'nonsense' - Cummins on Khawaja sandpaper claims.