Cricket Australia makes call on ball-tampering review

Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg has ruled out reopening the investigation into the ball-tampering scandal following Usman Khawaja’s bombshell revelations.

Greenberg spoke for the first time on Tuesday since Khawaja claimed the entire Australian team were aware of the use of sandpaper at Cape Town in 2018.

In his memoir Sabr, Khawaja also claimed Australia had used sandpaper in the Test prior to Cape Town at St George’s Park in 2018, but had not been caught.

CA’s official investigation in 2018 deemed that only perpetrator Cameron Bancroft, captain Steve Smith and deputy David Warner were aware of the plot.

The three were all banned, before later returning to the Test side and Smith having since captained the side again in Pat Cummins’ absence.

But Greenberg said on Tuesday that there was no need to restart inquiries, and that Khawaja’s version of events did not change things dramatically.

“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,” Greenberg told SEN.

“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.”

Greenberg’s comments come after Warner hit out at the CA investigation on Monday, labelling it “rushed and botched”.

Warner also claimed Khawaja’s comments in his book were “100 per cent accurate”.

Cricket Australia’s management, high-performance staff and coaches have essentially all changed since the 2018 scandal that engulfed the sport.