Current and former Australia players react to Usman Khawaja Sandpapergate comments, Victoria captain Will Sutherland responds to ball tampering claim, when is his book released

Scott Boland brushed off Usman Khawaja’s claim that his home state Victoria once perfected the “dark arts” of ball-tampering, while Vics captain Will Sutherland has denied the technique is a part of Sheffield Shield cricket anymore.

Watch every ball of Australia vs England T20 & ODI series Live & ad-break free during play on Fox Cricket, available on Kayo Sports | Don’t miss the Summer of the Century. Get 50% off Kayo Premium for 4 months. Min cost $23 for 1 month. New & returning customers only. Offer ends 30 Nov 2026. Sign up today.

Khawaja’s memoir, ‘Sabr’, drops on Tuesday and will include allegations that Australian domestic cricket was riddled with cheating before Sandpapergate.

In a snippet of the autobiography reported by CODE Sports, Khawaja called the Vics of the 2000s and 2010s “genius” at getting the best out of an old ball.

Boland – who debuted for Victoria in 2011 – accepts cheating can occur at lower levels but insists nothing “untoward” happened during his time with the Vics.

“Yeah, I don’t know what the dark arts are,” Boland said with a laugh.

“I think in general the last 10 years, probably since Cape Town, reverse swing has really gone out of the game.

“I don’t know, if you went back to club cricket without cameras, you’d probably see a lot of things that would happen.

“From my point of view, I haven’t really seen anything untoward.”

Vics captain Sutherland, who made his Shield debut in 2019 and became captain in 2023, said if ball tampering was once as commonplace as Khawaja claims, it no longer is.

“He’s (Khawaja) obviously trying to get some publicity for his book,” the 27-year-old, whose father James was Cricket Australia CEO during the Sandpapergate scandal, told foxsports.com.au.

“He’s quite opinionated, which I respect.

“But I was maybe 10 years old when he speaks of that Victorian team. A lot’s changed.”

Sutherland cited changes to how players are allowed to maintain the ball since the COVID-19 pandemic, including making the use of saliva to shine one side illegal, as evidence ball tampering is no longer prevalent at state level.

“Obviously everyone wants to get the ball to move in the air and off the wicket, but you can’t even put saliva on the ball these days,” he said.

“The game’s changed a lot.

“The Victorian team now, we’re very clear on what the rules are and we follow them as much as we can.”

Also a factor is a spate of bowler-friendly pitches in recent seasons which has changed the equation from Khawaja’s playing days.

Where the Vics racked up a gargantuan 510 in the 2008/9 final to seal their Shield title via a draw with Queensland, the 2025/26 decider saw the team bowled out for 139 at Melbourne’s Junction Oval to lose by 56 runs.

“I’ve been trying to work out how much grass is on the wicket most of the time, and trying to bat until the next new ball comes,” Sutherland laughed.

“It’s been very different conditions to what it was, 10-15 years ago.

“The game’s changed a fair bit.”

Retired Australian fast bowler Chadd Sayers supported Khawaja’s recollection of the now infamous 2018 Cape Town Test.

However, there has been no fresh response from Aussie bowlers Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon since their joint statement in 2021.

Cricket Australia is understood to be waiting until the official release of Sabr before making any formal reply.

NSW captain Nic Maddinson, who featured in Australia’s recent tour of South Africa, was asked about Khawaja’s comments on Monday ahead of NSW’s Sheffield Shield game against South Africa.

He echoed the opinion of former Australian Test captain Mark Taylor, who said the most “disappointing” part of it all was the fact it would lead to countless questions for the current crop of players.

“It’s obviously disappointing that it keeps coming up,” Maddinson said, per The Sydney Morning Herald.

“But it’s that time of year, isn’t it, when Christmas comes along and people have books to sell, so things come out.

“I think the three guys who’ve been affected the most (Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft), it doesn’t really help them at all to relive it, especially over the past month, having great series in South Africa.

“Obviously, the crowds weren’t as hostile (recently in South Africa), maybe as what people expected, but that stuff’s still there every day – at airports, and the general public making comments here and there.

“I guess over time it would still wear them down and (for that) to just pop up at the start of the summer going into a pretty big six months for the team is obviously disappointing for those guys.”

Travis Head, meanwhile, had a simple message when asked about the scandal on Monday.

“Move on,” he said.

“I think the public are ready to move on… I think the Test team has moved a long way, the people that were in charge of Cricket Australia in 2018, a lot has changed there. Some personnel and leadership have moved on and the team has come a long way.

“I think eight years down the track, and I’m someone who wasn’t involved in it and as a player really hasn’t been impacted by it, to still go everywhere and still have it mentioned, I think it’s had its time and everyone is ready to move on.”

Boland is confident Australia can block out the headlines and bounce back from its series loss to South Africa against New Zealand this summer.

“I can’t see it being too much of a distraction, it was eight years ago, the guys have played a lot of Test cricket since then,” Boland said.

“I don’t see it being too big of a distraction.”

The first Test between Australia and New Zealand starts in Perth on December 9.