Usman Khawaja responds to staggering new claims from Faf du Plessis

Usman Khawaja has responded to bombshell new claims from former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis that the Proteas had suspicions Australia were cheating in the Test matches immediately before the ball-tampering scandal in 2018.

In excerpts from his new autobiography ‘Faf: Through Fire', du Plessis revealed how the South Africans had resorted to spying on Australian fielders with binoculars leading up to the sandpaper scandal.

Cameron Bancroft was infamously caught applying sandpaper to the ball during the third Test of the series, copping a nine-month ban for his actions.

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Steve Smith and David Warner were also given one-year bans for their roles in the scandal, with Warner labelled the architect of the plan and Smith suspended for allowing it to happen under his watch as captain.

But in bombshell new claims, Du Plessis has revealed South Africa had suspicions about Australia's treatment of the ball from the first Test of the series.

“We suspected that someone had been nurturing the ball too much to get it to reverse so wildly, and we watched the second Test at St George’s through binoculars, so that we could follow the ball more closely while Australia was fielding,” du Plessis wrote.

“When we noticed that the ball was going to David Warner quite often, our changing room must have looked like a birdwatching hide as we peered intently through our binoculars.

“There was a visible difference between how Mitchell Starc got the ball to reverse in the first Test in Durban and the final Test in Johannesburg. We now know that there was an obvious reason for that.”

However Khawaja has since noted the level of reverse swing that South Africa were also getting throughout the series, while pointing out his dismissal to Kagiso Rabada during a Test at the WACA in 2016.

“Even in the second Test of that series, South Africa reverse swung the ball before we did,” Khawaja told The Age at the T20 World Cup on Sunday.

“So for him to say that ... they were reverse swinging it before we were. It’s easy pointing fingers but I remember Kagiso Rabada blew my stumps apart at the WACA, reverse swinging it first innings and that was after 40 overs.

“So they were always very good at reverse swinging and it’s very rare to see reverse swing at the WACA other than on day five.

“So while he says that, there was a period of time where reverse swing was very prominent in the game. How every team was doing it, I can’t really speak for that, but I giggled to myself when I saw those comments.”

Faf du Plessis defends Steve Smith

In his autobiography, du Plessis also claimed he didn't think Smith "did much wrong", revealing how the Aussie star had supported him when he was caught applying a mint to the ball during a game in 2016.

“It’s no secret that all cricket teams want the ball to reverse. Not everyone knows how to accomplish this, especially not inexperienced players. But everyone knows it’s wrong to change the condition of the ball. We, too, have pushed those boundaries," he admitted.

“Steve Smith and I have never been friends but we always played a hard game against each other, and Steve had been willing to defend me publicly in 2016 when ‘Mintgate’ broke.

“I texted him that evening [in Cape Town]: ‘Message of support. Gone through this myself. It is a terrible experience when they attack your character. Hang in there. It will blow over.’

“He responded, ‘Thanks mate!’ To which I replied, ‘There will be a s***storm for a while. But stay strong.’"

Australia’s bowling unit of Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon issued a join statement last year denying they had any knowledge of what was going on during the third Test in 2018.

“We did not know a foreign substance was taken onto the field to alter the condition of the ball until we saw the images on the big screen at Newlands,” the four bowlers said.

“And to those who, despite the absence of evidence, insist that ‘we must have known’ about the use of a foreign substance simply because we are bowlers, we say this: The umpires during that Test match, Nigel Llong and Richard Illingworth, both very respected and experienced umpires, inspected the ball after the images surfaced on the TV coverage and did not change it because there was no sign of damage."

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