David Warner: 2018 ball-tampering investigation 'stinks of a cover up'

Warner, Cameron Bancroft and Steve Smith, who was captain at the time, were only three players given bans after it was disclosed that Bancroft had brought sandpaper onto the field in a Test against South Africa eight years ago.

The scandal was broken wide open again this week when Usman Khawaja, who was part of the team in Cape Town and retired earlier this year, wrote that the whole team knew about the sandpaper and should have taken collective responsibility.

Warner has already backed up Khawaja's version of the events that took place, and added fuel to the fire.

"As far as I am aware, CA did not interview Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc or Nathan Lyon in their 2018 investigation," Warner posted on social media. "If that's correct, then how can CA push the idea that the bowlers didn't know?

"It looks like they had decided who they wanted to blame from the very beginning, ran a shoddy investigation to serve the purpose, and now they want to maintain the false narrative that the bowlers had no idea. That stinks of a cover up."

In response to Warner's claims, a CA spokesperson said: "As we have stated previously, all players were given the opportunity to speak at the time of the initial investigation and have had the ability to come forward with new evidence in the eight years since.

"Subsequently, CA has respected every player and former players right to provide their own version of events."

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