Two days after Pat Cummins refuted Usman Khawaja’s claims, the Sandpaper gate has taken a new turn with Sayers, who was a part of the 2018 squad, coming forward to back the recollection of events shared by Khawaja in his book ‘Sabr’.

Speaking to SEN ahead of Australia's second ODI against England on Sunday, November 15, Sayers said he and his teammates knew sandpaper was being used during the series. "I'm comfortable saying where I'm sitting now that everyone knew what was going on," Sayers said. "It was used in two Test matches and there were discussions in change rooms. I'm not taking sides, it's just my recollection of what took place."

Sayers, who made his debut in the Johannesburg Test in the aftermath of the Sandpaper gate, which was also his only Test appearance, recalled a 60-90 minute meeting in Cape Town where all players talked about what happened and how to move forward.

“Yes, after the occurrence in Cape Town, we all sat in the change rooms after that day's play and probably for 60 to 90 minutes,” he added. “We talked about what had happened and I guess where to next.

“I guess it was always going to happen with this seriousness of what the allegations were. So, it was just as I said, it was about what had happened, where we stood with that and how we were going to move forward. I guess at that stage we probably didn't know the severity back in Australia as well.”

Cummins, in his press conference, had denied any knowledge of the use of sandpaper on the ball. “When he says, ‘we all knew,’ if by that he means we knew sandpaper was going out on the field, he’s 100% wrong,” said Cummins. “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 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”

Sayers, however, has contradicted the current Australia skipper, claiming everyone was in on it, and had knowledge of what was happening. “I would have thought as a team, when you're trying to get the ball to reverse that everyone would buy in because if one little thing goes wrong in the field to the ball, it stops it from reversing straight away,” he argued. “So yeah, as I said, I'm pretty confident to say that everyone knew.”

The 39-year-old also explained what was the plan and how sandpaper was used on that tour.

“I just knew that it was going to be used as I believe everyone else did,” Sayers furrther added. “The plan was that Cameron Bancroft was going to take that out, the ball was going to be dropped on the ground by the umpires and he was going to go about business.”

Chadd Sayers has told all from within the changerooms in South Africa, 2018. Catch the full interview on https://t.co/f9Zd9S9ja1 on the SEN app. 📲 #Cricket https://t.co/L5uQYyuRgj

— SEN Cricket (@SEN_Cricket) November 15, 2026

David Warner doubles down on Cricket Australia

Following the press conference by Cummins, Warner did not hold back, saying he had thrown Khawaja under the bus with those statements. He also took to social media to accuse Cricket Australia of a cover up.

"As far as I am aware, CA did not interview Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc or Nathan Lyon in their 2018 investigation," the statement read. “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 (and) 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, Cricket Australia released a statement, sticking to their earlier stance of following all the right procedures in conducting the investigation.

“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,” the statement read. “Subsequently, CA has respected every player and former players’ right to provide their own version of events.”

After the statement, Warner criticised the management in another post for withholding the information that the bowlers were also interviewed at the time.

“Just to clarify 'As far as I'm aware' was the POINT,” he posted. “I was never told the bowlers had been interviewed or provided statements. That information would've been pretty useful when I was forced to make decisions back in 2018. Why weren't we given all the evidence by CA?”

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