Australia captain Pat Cummins has described Usman Khawaja's allegation that the entire Australia XI in Cape Town in 2018 knew about the sandpaper use is '100% wrong' and 'complete and utter nonsense'.
Cummins fronted a press conference at Cricket Central in Sydney to respond to allegations in Khawaja's book. In a stunning 68-minute long question and answer session, he strongly rebutted Khawaja's claims that the entire team knew what was happening in terms of using illegal methods to tamper with the ball.
"When he says we all knew, if by that he means that we knew sandpaper was going out on the field, he's 100% wrong," Cummins said. "I've said that consistently for the last eight years, 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. I was genuinely shocked this week when I found out that Usman admitted that he told Cam [Bancroft] to be careful when using sandpaper.
"That's not the Usman that I know. It's not the Usman that I think, or that has been part of a team that's helped rebuild this Australian cricket culture over the last eight years, and you know the Usman that would have stopped that from happening there and then. Usman's a friend, but friends aren't casual with each other's lives and reputations.
"In his book, Ussie has been casual with my lives and the lives of many others, and I think Australian cricket.
"I support his right to tell a story 100%. I'm really glad that he feels like he can, but we have to be accountable for the things that we say and do."
Cummins hit back at the allegations that the entire team was aware of a master-plan to use illegal methods to get the ball to reverse in 2018.
"There was no master-plan around using illegal methods," Cummins said. "I think that's maybe something that hasn't been spoken about enough. People assume you've gone from very legal methods [to get it the ball to reverse] to suddenly taking sandpaper, and there must have been some huge master-plan.
"The truth, that is not the case.
"That's one of the reasons why I really want to talk through [it], because context and details matter around this. There's no grand plan. There's no team meeting. There's no bowlers saying this is what must happen. I think there's natural progressions that get you there."
Cummins said he was surprised to read Khawaja's allegation that sandpaper was used on the ball on the boundary edge before the start of a session in Port Elizabeth, which was the Test prior to Cape Town.
"That was news to me this week," Cummins said. "I had no idea. Even chatting a couple of guys, that was a revelation to us. That was one of the things that really surprised me because that doesn't happen anymore.
"The umpires give the ball out to you in the middle, so I don't remember that. I remember growing up, used to watch for the umpire dropping the ball, but I genuinely don't remember that being the case. I don't know where that stopped. So that was a revelation to me this week."
Cummins said the only time he has seen ball-tampering in his professional career was when a New South Wales teammate used a bottle cap on the ball in a Sheffield Shield game early in his career, but he refused to detail which game it was and who the player was.
"He was a batter," Cummins said. "He was a senior player, I won't mention him, but he took a bottle cap out in the field, and that was the one time I've seen on the field. I was looking at it going, 'Wow, that's not okay.' It was dealt with. The umpires knew it as well. They called him out and said, 'You've got to stop that right now.' He was dealt with. That's the only time I've seen something illegal out there."
Khawaja had alleged in his book that he had pushed for the entire team to take collective ownership of the ball-tampering in Cape Town and that two players had not wanted to do so. Cummins said he did not remember anyone suggesting they should take collective responsibility.
"First part, I don't remember any conversation around collective responsibility," Cummins said. "I don't remember any team meeting where he stood up and said, 'Let's all own this as a team'. So then, to follow on, no, I've got no idea who those two people would be because I don't remember ever being asked or having a conversation about it.
"I've spoken to quite a few other people, and exactly the same. Trying to piece it all together, no one remembers a team meeting where someone stood up and said, 'We got to all own this.'"