New Delhi, Nov 10 (IANS) Former Australian Test captain Michael Clarke reacted to Usman Khawaja's bombshell revelation on the infamous 2018 sandpaper scandal and said Aussie fans have not moved from the saga and "can’t trust what’s real until the investigation gets reopened."

In his new book, Sabr, which detailed the events of 2018 Sandpapergate, Khawaja claimed that the entire Australian Test team was aware of the use of sandpaper during the 2018 Cape Town Test in South Africa.

Following extracts of the book being released in the lead-up to its release, David Warner, who had faced a 12-month ban for his role in the ball-tampering controversy, backed Khawaja’s version of events.

But Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg said on radio station SEN on Tuesday morning that the investigation would not be reopened, as the governing body is “comfortable with the outcome” of the 2018 probe.

“We haven’t moved on. Australian fans have not moved on. They can’t trust what’s real. They don’t know the truth – until this (investigation) gets reopened and the truth comes out,” Clarke said on 2DayFM’s Breakfast with Nath & Emma.

“We had the chance in 2018. The truth didn’t come out. We had the chance in 2021 when (Cameron Bancroft) made those comments (to The Guardian). 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," he said.

In an interview with The Guardian in 2021, Cameron Bancroft, the man seen hiding the sandpaper in his trousers, was asked if the front-line bowlers Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon were aware of the plot; to which he replied it was “self-explanatory”.

In reply, Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood and Lyon released a joint statement insisting they did not know about the illegal use of a "foreign substance".

“For me, right now, there’s more questions than answers. 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. And did it happen in the game before? That’s also what I’m hearing, that (it didn’t just happen) in Cape Town," Clarke added.

--IANS

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