'Utter nonsense'; Australia skipper Cummins denies involvement in sandpaper plot

SYDNEY, Nov 13 : Australia captain Pat Cummins again denied any involvement in the plot to use sandpaper on the ball in a test against South Africa in 2018, on Friday describing the allegations in Usman Khawaja's autobiography as "utter nonsense".

Former Australia batsman Khawaja, whose autobiography was published on Tuesday, said last weekend that all the players in the team at Newlands knew about the plot, triggering calls for a new investigation into the incident. 

"When he says we all knew, if by that he means that we knew sandpaper was going out in the field, he's 100 per cent wrong. I've said that consistently for the last eight years," Cummins told a press conference in Sydney.

"I did not know that was happening, but I think Usman actually says things that are actually far more serious than that.

"He says that I and others were architects of a scheme to ball tamper with sandpaper. That's complete and utter nonsense.

"There was no master plan around using illegal methods," he added. "There's no grand plan. There's no team meeting. There's no bowlers saying 'this is what must happen'."

The Australia skipper spoke for 68 minutes, taking every question from the media and saying he would never discuss the ball-tampering incident again.

Cummins also took exception to Pakistan-born Khawaja's contention in the book that the colour of his skin and background had prevented him from becoming Australia captain.

"I think of all the things that I've read this week, I think that's actually the most serious," he said.

 "Him saying that if you're Australian captain, you have to be a certain skin colour, I couldn't disagree with that statement any more."

Steve Smith and David Warner, the then Australia captain and vice-captain, were