This Australian team was already under pressure. Khawaja’s allegations could finish it off

November 8, 2026 — 10:32am

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The one team that will be delighted by the ball-tampering scandal blowing up again is England, because it could completely dismantle an Australia side already under a huge amount of pressure.

Australia have a captain, Pat Cummins, in turmoil after losing a Test at home to Bangladesh and a series in South Africa, where his tactics were questionable, the attack is ageing and the batting desperately needs an injection of new blood.

There will be a lot of scrutiny now on Cummins and the bowlers who played in Cape Town and made a rod for their own backs when they wrote a statement in 2021 denying any knowledge of the sandpaper incident.

Now Usman Khawaja has blown that up. But this was always going to resurface. What I can’t understand is how Australia thought they would put this to bed. It has been an open secret in cricket circles. How the hell don’t you know something........

© The Age