THE FUSE

Matt Prior has accused Australia’s bowlers of lying over the sandpaper scandal that is back in the spotlight Down Under.

Former Aussie batter Usman Khawaja has dredged up the 2018 cheating scandal by becoming the first player to stray from the party line. “It was all of us. Not the batters, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us,” Khawaja said ahead of the release of his autobiography.

Cameron Bancroft, David Warner and Steve Smith took the rap for the ball-tampering in South Africa, with the team insistent nobody else was involved. But ex-England wicketkeeper Prior is convinced that Khawaja is telling the truth, having witnessed the legal methods teams use to generate reverse-swing.

“I never played in a team where three players would randomly make a decision around the ball without anyone knowing about it,” Prior said. “The ball is the bowlers’ armoury. If you went near Jonathan Trott’s bat he would’ve gone absolutely ballistic.

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“Bowlers have one ball and you get three batters tearing into it without your knowledge. They would be going absolutely mental.

“There is just no way that a conversation wouldn’t have been had in any of the dressing rooms I played in where the bowlers are not aware of what the plan is with the ball. And once that decision is made, it has to be a collective effort.”

The Aussie bowlers in that game, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon, released a statement in 2021 reaffirming their innocence. This week, Starc became the first to comment after Khawaja’s revelations, maintaining he had no knowledge of the plot.

Conveniently, the quartet of veteran bowlers have all been rested from the One-Day International series against England, which starts on Friday in Perth.

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Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg said this week he does not see “any compelling reason” to reopen the investigation which led to bans for Bancroft, Smith and Warner.

“I imagine that Cricket Australia wants this to go away as quickly as possible,” said Prior, who will be a pundit on TNT Sports for the series. "So I think it was a pretty smart move to take the bowlers out of the firing line.”

Prior did, however, question why Khawaja has waited until now, when his playing career is over and he has a book to promote, in order to release the skeletons in his closet.

“I’ve mixed feelings about it because what goes on in the dressing room should stay there," Prior added. "I’m old fashioned in that regard. Usman has to sell books. If he felt so strongly about it, why didn’t he say something eight years ago?”

The re-emergence of the scandal has created a unique backdrop for England, who will be afforded the luxury of relative anonymity, in stark contrast to their miserable Ashes tour earlier this year.

“Make no mistake, the media pressure will be on Australia and that does allow England an opportunity to slide under the radar, which is very rare for an Australian series,” Prior added.

“But they are reliant on their performances. If they can start well and get ahead then the media scrutiny on the Australian team just keeps being turned up. If they don’t start well then it will very quickly spin straight back onto England.”

Every match of England’s white-ball tour of Australia, starting this Friday in Perth, will be broadcast live and exclusively on TNT Sports and HBO Max