David Warner has accused Cricket Australia (CA) of a “cover up” as the row over the 2018 ball-tampering scandal continued.
Former vice-captain Warner, captain Steve Smith and opener Cameron Bancroft all served lengthy bans as part of CA’s investigation into the ball-tampering scandal that rocked Australian cricket during a Test series in South Africa in 2018.
And Warner has questioned the investigation into the incident by claiming that Australia’s bowlers from the Cape Town Test were not interviewed.
“As far as l am aware, CA did not interview Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc or Nathan Lyon in their 2018 investigation,” Warner said.
“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, 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.”
The four frontline bowlers – Hazlewood, Starc, Lyon and Pat Cummins – have maintained they did not know about the plan to use sandpaper to tamper with the ball.
In response to Warner’s comments, CA said: “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.
“Subsequently, CA has respected every player and former players’ right to provide their own version of events.”
Usman Khawaja is “100% accurate” in his recounting of the Australia ball-tampering scandal in 2018, says former team-mate David Warner.
Ex-opener Warner also said Cricket Australia’s investigation process following the incident was “rushed and botched”.
Australia were found to have used sandpaper to alter the condition of the ball during the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town.
Warner and captain Steve Smith were banned for a year and fellow batter Cameron Bancroft for nine months.
Khawaja last week said the entire Australia team knew about the use of sandpaper, despite consistent denials from the bowlers that they had knowledge of the plan.
Warner, who retired from international cricket in 2024, said in a video statement on Instagram:, external “It’s been eight years since I spoke on this topic. And Ussie, I throw my full support behind you.
“I thank you for what you’ve done. It’s 100% accurate what you’ve said. Now everyone knows the truth.”
Former batter Khawaja has said he was shocked not to be asked to provide evidence during Cricket Australia’s investigation.
“In an ideal world, I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to be the one who comes out and talks about the truth,” he wrote.
“The issue is that I genuinely thought after eight years the truth would have been out by now.”
In response, Warner said: “This is Usman’s story. This is what Usman believes. Ussie wrote down every single thing from that day on.
“This whole interview process was rushed and botched. Ussie was sitting next to Cameron Bancroft. Ussie was not interviewed.
“How is that a thorough investigation? It baffles me. We’re not here to point fingers and we’re not opening old wounds. It’s about accountability, transparency, ensuring that the truth is properly examined.
“Perhaps it’s time people stop scrutinising the person asking for accountability and start asking those responsible for the investigation to provide it.”
While Smith, Warner and Bancroft – all batters – were punished, there was never an explanation of how bowlers Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon did not notice a change in the state of the ball.
Cummins has been Test captain since 2021 and all four players remain fixtures in the Australia red-ball side.
The quartet released a joint statement in 2021 which said they “did not know a foreign substance was taken on to the field”.
Warner said in his video that there were “a lot of statements and inaccuracies over the last eight years that were out in the media by people. And there was a lot of people who stayed silent.”
The 40-year-old, who scored 8,786 runs in 112 Tests, said he delayed his reponse to Khawaja’s comments so he could explain the incident to his daughters.
“I had to tell them exactly what had happened,” said Warner. “My 12-year-old, Ivy, wanted to know why we were holding her, why there were so many cameras, why we were all crying on TV. That was a hard thing to do.
“But one thing I did say is, ‘Girls, tell the truth, because lies will eventually get out’.
“It’s a very tough time. This is for everyone in Australia. It’s been the question everyone’s been asking.
“It’s been a tough time for my family, Steven and Cameron, no doubt. But this is what needed to come out. I fully support that, Ussie.”
The now-former studio executive received the inaugural Vanguard Award at the Women in Film Honors gala on Thursday evening. She thanked every single female director, producer and executive she has worked with throughout her career, including Greta Gerwig, Emerald Fennell, Zoë Kravitz, Margot Robbie, Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, whom she feels ever-growing gratitude toward.
“But lately, other feelings, and one in particular, have risen to the surface with undeniable ferocity, and that feeling is pure, unadulterated rage,” she said onstage in the Beverly Hilton’s opulent ballroom. “Rage for these women, rage for me and even more rage for the entire generation of women who deserve to have their potential recognized and elevated.”
“Rage at how women are under attack everywhere,” she continued. “Rage at how our health and our well-being always seem to come second to how we show up in a room. And here’s the problem: As a leader who happens to be a woman, I am supposed to sublimate this rage. And you know what happens when they tell you to tamp down a fever? Sometimes it just burns hotter.” (All remarks onstage were interpreted into ASL by Keturah Holiday and Amber Berteloot.)
“When I researched the term vanguard, I came across a few meanings,” Pamela Abdy said at the 2026 Women in Film Honors gala, where she received the inaugural Vanguard Award. It can mean “a leader who brings new ideas, political movements or art.”
(Unique Nicole / Getty Images)
She has been called difficult, emotional and combative, Abdy said. She’s been told to put on her “big boy pants,” to smile more. She’s been told that movies starring women and directed by women don’t make as much money as those made by men, that their audience is limited. (Even after “Barbie,” which she oversaw alongside Mike De Luca, grossed more than $1.4 billion.)
“It is getting harder, not easier, to be a woman in the business,” Abdy said. “We tell ourselves because a few of us made it into these chairperson seats, we broke through, that we paved the way for the next generation. But I don’t think it’s true.”
When Gerwig made “Barbie,” people consistently referred to her as a “female director,” Abdy said — not a “director.” But when people talk about the highest-grossing male directors, they don’t call them “male directors.” We still have the “Most Powerful Women in Hollywood” lists. But the men don’t have a separate list; they are the list, she added.
“So I have to ask: What business are we leaving for future vanguards?” Abdy said. “Is it a healthy industry for the next generation of storytellers and executives to step into? One that allows women to enter with an open heart and mind, without having to fight the fights we’re still fighting?”
“These are the questions I think about when I focus on funneling my rage,” she continued. “Rage can be destructive, but I think of it as fuel, as something that can burn bright, something that can be harnessed to fight on for what we think is right, what we believe in and what we deserve.”
Jane Fonda, right, presented Salma Hayek Pinault with the Jane Fonda Humanitarian Award at Thursday’s Women in Film Honors gala.
(Unique Nicole / Getty Images)
Abdy then paused to acknowledge how heartening it was to see so many women elected in the midterms on Tuesday. Earlier in the evening, WIF Chief Executive Kirsten Schaffer shouted out Keisha Lance Bottoms, the first Black woman elected governor of a state, in Georgia; Gina Hinojosa, the first Latina governor elected in Texas; and the six transgender and nonbinary candidates who made history.
Filmmaker Nancy Meyers, who presented Abdy with her honor, praised Abdy and De Luca’s historic tenure: “Barbie” is the highest-grossing film in Warner Bros. history. “Sinners” set an Oscar record with the most nominations ever by a single movie. And last year’s best picture winner, “One Battle After Another,” was “another feather in Pam’s very crowded hat.”
After Meyers’ introduction, a highlight reel played Abdy’s greatest hits, including video submissions from some of her friends in the industry: Gerwig, Robbie, Kidman, Bullock and Ryan Coogler, among others.
Bullock cheekily reminded Abdy that, when she accepts her award, “remember that when they gave it to you, you were initially employed at the place where you are no longer employed.” Then, when Bullock “realizes” that this is the WIF Honors gala, she backtracks. “Never mind, forget everything I just said. Say everything you want to say, toot your own horn. They love you.”
This seemed, for the most part, true about the hundreds of women in attendance. As soon as Abdy turned her speech toward rage, a faint “preach!” rang from somewhere in the ballroom. The 15-minute speech was met with a standing ovation.
At the Women in Film Honors gala, WIF Chief Executive Kirsten Schaffer asked: “Whose stories make it to the big screen? Whose vision of the future are we living in?”
(Unique Nicole / Getty Images)
“In the executive suites of Hollywood, in the past three months, we’ve lost 50% of our top women leaders, which has been a major blow, because it’s not like we had that many to begin with,” Schaffer said. “So what are we going to do about it? At WIF, we have a very simple answer: We keep going. We keep opening doors. We keep investing in each other. We keep hiring each other. We keep fostering the next generation of storytellers.”
Abdy wasn’t the only honoree Thursday evening. Jane Fonda presented Salma Hayek Pinault with the Jane Fonda Humanitarian Award for her philanthropic work, including with the Kering Foundation (established by her husband’s luxury group), which fights gender-based violence across the U.S., Mexico, France, Italy, Korea and the U.K. Hayek Pinault dedicated the award to Dolores Huerta, who died last week and attended the gala last year, and called Huerta “a womb for our community.”
Sharon Stone presented Hannah Waddingham with the Crystal Award for Advocacy in TV, and Maria Giulia Prezioso Maramotti (granddaughter of the founder of Italian clothing brand Max Mara, which sponsored the event) presented actor Adria Arjona with the WIF Max Mara Face of the Future Award. Emmy Rossum gave writer, director and producer Beth de Araújo and actor Gemma Chan (in absentia) the Crystal Award for Advocacy in Film for their upcoming movie “Josephine,” about a young girl who has witnessed a sexual assault.
Beth de Araújo — who wrote, directed and produced the upcoming movie “Josephine” — received the Crystal Award for Advocacy in Film (along with star Gemma Chan, in absentia) at the gala.
(Unique Nicole / Getty Images)
“In our film ‘Josephine,’ we attempt to transport you back to your youth, to a time before you understood the concept of sexual assault,” De Araújo said. “What happened to you once you became aware of it? How did this start to inform the way you moved your body through the world, the way you thought about your own safety?”
“For me, I certainly became very, very scared, and I hid. I locked myself inside so that there were barriers between myself and danger,” she continued, tearing up. “But I’m very tired of being scared. It is time for those who are committed to violence to be scared of us.”
