Usman Khawaja “chuckled” as South Africa’s Faf du Plessis made big claims about Australian cricket
Queensland Bulls and Australia Test batsman Usman Khawaja has laughed at Faf du Plessis’ recent ‘Sandpapergate’ claims, while cricket fans lashed out at the former South African skipper for his hypocrisy.
It was revealed that Australia had altered the condition of a ball in South Africa by using sandpaper during the third Test in Cape Town in 2018.
This resulted in Cameron Bancroft being handed a three-month ban, while Cricket Australia hit captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner hard with one-year bans and life disqualification of the leadership.
Cameron Bancroft and Steve Smith take on the music in South Africa after footage of sandpaper being used to roughen the ball surfaced
Smith is comforted by his father Peter as he confronts the media at Sydney International Airport in the wake of South Africa’s sandpaper scandal
To publicize his new autobiography, former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis opened up the scars of that Test by claiming he suspected the Australians of ball-tampering in the first Test as well.
“During the first Test in Durban, the Australian tempo attack had caused the ball to reverse insanely,” du Plessis wrote in passages of his News Corp.
“Mitchell Starc claimed nine wickets and while I consider him one of the best reverse swing bowling proponents I have ever seen or experienced, those deliveries were borderline unplayable in Durban.
“He came around the wicket with a badly damaged ball and made it bounce past us.
“Our balls had reversed too, but not nearly as much as theirs.
“We suspected someone had cared for the ball too well to let it reverse so wildly and we watched the second Test at St George’s through binoculars so we could follow the ball more closely while Australia set up.
“Once we realized the ball was going to David Warner quite a bit, our dressing room must have looked like a bird-watching hide as we peered intently through our binoculars,” du Plessis wrote.
Faf Du Plessis, who played against Australia in 2016, has been found twice guilty of tampering with the ball but has not been banned for his actions
Khawaja played in that Test series and scoffed at du Plessis’ claims, saying the ball bounced around for both sides.
“Even in the second Test of this series, South Africa swung the ball backwards in front of us,” Khawaja told The Age in Sunday’s Twenty20 World Cup clash between India and Pakistan.
“So, for him to say that… they swung it upside down in front of us. It’s easy to point fingers, but I remember Kagiso Rabada blasting my stumps apart at WACA by swinging it backwards in the first innings, and that was after 40 overs.
“So they’ve always been very good at backswings and it’s very rare to see backswings at WACA other than on day five.
“As he says this, there was a time when the backswing was very prominent in the game. I can’t really speak for how each team did it, but I giggled to myself when I saw those comments.
Usman Khawaja and David Warner celebrate winning The Ashes after the sandpaper scandal
Khawaja said he laughed at du Plessis’ comments on “Sandpapergate” in his new book
Du Plessis was slammed for his comments after being found guilty of ball manipulation by the International Cricket Council in 2013 and 2016 but not missing a single Test match on either occasion.
The former South African skipper then sensationally said in 2018: “The penalties must be tougher for ball manipulation”.
“I’m not saying that from a high horse. In the past we have also been found guilty of using unorthodox methods to make the ball swing backwards,” du Plessis wrote in his new autobiography.
The fans didn’t have it, however, and were quick to lash out at du Plessis for his hypocrisy.
I personally think Warner, Smith and Bancroft should have been banned for life… but the criticism from Faf du Plessis is like Lance Armstrong accusing cyclists of using performance-enhancing drugs.
— Scott Gumbleton (@scottgumbleton) October 23, 2022
‘Said Faf, who was previously convicted twice of ball-tampering. Compared to the penalties imposed on Smith, Warner and Bancroft, they escaped after being hit with a limp stick of celery,” one fan replied.
“I try to distract a lot! Just because Aust was caught doesn’t take the shine off the suspicions of the South African bowling team, who like other nations have been suspected of ball hardening for a decade or so. People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones,” said another.
“Faf du Plessis, who got a slap on the wrist and didn’t miss a game after finishing TWICE for ball manipulation, doesn’t like it when others do the same,” wrote another.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/cricket/article-11347133/Usman-Khawaja-giggled-South-Africas-Faf-du-Plessis-huge-claims-Australian-cricket.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490 Usman Khawaja “chuckled” as South Africa’s Faf du Plessis made big claims about Australian cricket
