'No reason' to reopen sandpaper investigation

Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg said he does not see "any compelling reason" to reopen the investigation into the 2018 Australia ball-tampering scandal.

Meanwhile, seamer Mitchell Starc has said he is disappointed by his former team-mate Usman Khawaja's claim that the entire team knew about the use of sandpaper to alter the condition of the ball in the third Test against South Africa.

The incident led to bans for captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and fellow batter Cameron Bancroft, but a Cricket Australia investigation found the national side's bowling attack were unaware of the ball-tampering.

Greenberg said he had not read Khawaja's autobiography in which his claims are made, but said he hoped to do so and that he had "huge respect" for the former batter giving "his version of events".

"There are specific details in his book that contradict the versions that have been provided by others," Greenberg told Australian outlet Sports Entertainment Network.

"I want to be really careful to consider what Usman's actually said, and not respond to the headlines or the subsequent commentary that gets created.

"It's important to attribute his words and not the headlines. It's important to know that back at that time, players were urged to come forward, and they had the opportunity to do so over these past eight years, and that remains the case.

"We have said we're comfortable with the outcome of the investigation based on the information we've received. That includes what we've seen from Usman, and our position hasn't changed on that."

"We don't see any compelling reason to open the investigation or revisit this again. I don't think there's anything that can be gained from that."

Starc formed part of the bowling attack in the contentious 2018 Test alongside Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon.

In 2021, the quartet, who remain fixtures in the Australia Test side, issued a joint statement saying they "did not know a foreign substance was taken on to the field".

Speaking at a season launch event in Sydney, Starc stated he hadn't "really paid much attention" to the media coverage of Khawaja's claims.

"Obviously, there's differing opinions of eight years ago. We were heavily grilled through the process at the time, since," said Starc.

"I guess I won't speak on behalf of the bowlers - but, where I stand, my opinion hasn't changed, my recollection hasn't changed from what we said in 2021.

"We weren't aware it [sandpaper] was taken on the field to be tampered with. We saw it on the big screen in Cape Town. As far as the book's concerned, I haven't read it and probably won't read it, so that's for Usman to elaborate on.

"It's definitely disappointing that's what we're talking about heading into a really exciting [Australian] summer. Different people felt different ways about it at the time, throughout and certainly through the last eight years.

"I think Trav [Head] said it the other day, that the group has changed a lot. We certainly look forward to what's coming up. We're not in 2018 anymore, are we, so the group at the moment's great."

Khawaja has also said in his book that sandpaper was in use at the second Test at Port Elizabeth, but Starc said that claim was the "first I was aware of any of that taking place in PE".

Warner, who was banned for a year after the incident, has backed Khawaja's recollections, saying on Monday they were "100% accurate".

Greenberg argued there was always likely to be a lack of consensus about what took place in the series.

"You end up at the same intersection where one person's version of events contradict the others, and I'm not sure what outcome people are searching for," he added.

"I think what people want is a single outcome that everyone is aligned up on, but I don't think that's possible on this occasion because we have such conflicting views from the same moment in time."