Australia seamer Mitchell Starc has said he is disappointed by Khawaja’s allegation that the entire team knew about the use of sandpaper.
The quartet of bowlers in the Cape Town Test – Starc, Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon – remain fixtures in the Australia red-ball side.
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, and Clarke said that claim also needed to be investigated.
Starc said that allegation 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, who took over as Cricket Australia CEO in March 2025 having previously led the Australian Cricketers’ Association, 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.”