Warner backs Khawaja’s Sandpapergate account, calls Cricket Australia probe 'rushed and botched'

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — David Warner has supported an account of the so-called Sandpapergate cheating scandal implicating the entire team in the episode that rocked Australian cricket in 2018 and led to the lengthy suspensions for him, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft.

Days after excerpts of a soon-to-be-released book written by his Australia teammate Usman Khawaja implied the three players suspended in the Cape Town ball-tampering episode were scapegoats for the team, Warner posted on a video on Instagram Monday saying: “It's 100% accurate what you've said.”

“It's been eight years since I spoke on this topic. Uzzy, I throw my full support behind you. I thank you for what you've done,” Warner said in the video. “Now everyone knows the truth. It's out there. People wanted to know it. You've come out and said it.

“It’s been a tough time for my family (and), Steven and Cameron, no doubt. But this is what needed to come out. I fully support that, Uzzy.”

For eight years, Cricket Australia, team management and other players have rejected claims that everyone was in on the plot to use sandpaper to scuff the ball to make it swing unconventionally through the air during a test against South Africa at Cape Town.

The host broadcaster filmed evidence of Bancroft using sandpaper on the ball during the match. The resulting scandal engulfed the series, generated global headlines and resulted in the harshest penalties ever imposed for ball tampering in international cricket.

Bancroft was suspended by Cricket Australia for nine months. Smith and Warner, then the captain and vice-captain of the test team, were suspended from all cricket for a year.

After making emotional apologies to the Australian public on returning home from South Africa, the three suspended players rarely spoke publicly of the investigation. Smith and Warner made successful returns to the Australian team in 2019.

On Monday, Warner said the Cricket Australia investigation into the ball-tampering scandal in 2018 was “rushed and botched.”

Khawaja, who was playing in the test match, said he'd wanted the entire team to take responsibility but was advised against it. He retired from international cricket in January and said he'd promised Warner, his childhood friend, that “I would tell the truth.”

Khawaja's recounting of the episode generated a diverse reaction in Australia. Some supported his decision to publish his version of events, albeit eight years later, and others were critical of the timing.

Warner, in a message with his video post, wrote “some things are bigger than cricket.”

“This isn’t about reopening old wounds. It’s about acknowledging that some wounds never properly healed,” Warner wrote. “I stand with my brother Usman Khawaja. Speaking your truth takes courage, especially when people would rather you stay silent. Time passing doesn’t replace accountability, and asking questions shouldn’t be mistaken for holding grudges.”

Warner, who retired from cricket's traditional format in 2024 with 112 test caps, said he decided to comment now after talking to his young daughters over recent days about what transpired in that match and later.

“Perhaps it’s time people stop scrutinizing the person asking for accountability, and start asking those responsible for the investigation to provide it.”

See AP’s full cricket coverage here

FILE - Australia's Usman Khawaja leaves the ground after losing his wicket during day two of the first test cricket match between Sri Lanka and Australia in Galle, Sri Lanka, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena File)

FILE - Delhi Capitals' David Warner waves to his fans during the awards ceremony at the end of the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Chennai Super Kings in Visakhapatnam, India, March. 31, 2024.(AP Photo/ Surjeet Yadav File)

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities recovered 12 bodies from a boat carrying migrants found sailing south of Greece's island of Crete early Monday, while a passing Moroccan-flagged cargo ship rescued 18 people from the same vessel, the coast guard said.

Separately, the coast guard said that more than 180 people were found on three other boats heading across the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa to Crete on Monday morning, the latest in what has been a steady flow of boats from Libya to Greece. The crossing has become one of the main migrant routes to Europe.

No further information was immediately available on the identities of the 12 people who died or the circumstances of their deaths. Greece’s coast guard said the boat they were traveling in was found about 15 nautical miles — about 28 kilometers or 18 miles — south of the southern Greek island of Crete on Monday morning.

Another two boats, one carrying about 47 people and another with about 40 people on board, were also found sailing south of Crete. The first was spotted by an aircraft from the European Union's border agency Frontex, while the second was found by a Frontex drone, the coast guard said.

A Frontex drone also spotted a third boat with around 100 people on board sailing 47 nautical miles — 87 kilometers, or 54 miles — south of Crete later on Monday morning, the coast guard said. All those on board the three boats were to be taken to Crete, it added.

Greece is one of the main entry points into the European Union for people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. In recent months, thousands have been making the perilous sea crossing from North Africa, usually from Libya to Crete. Others make the far shorter but often equally dangerous crossing from the Turkish coast to nearby Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, often in unseaworthy inflatable dinghies or other small boats.

Last month, 12 people, including an infant, died when the two boats they were traveling in from Turkey to the islands of Lesbos and Samos capsized.

Frontex said in October that the eastern Mediterranean was the busiest route for migrants attempting to enter the 27-nation EU, although irregular border crossings into the bloc were down by a third so far this year.

The agency said that around 31, 800 crossings were recorded in the first three quarters of 2026, a fall of 15% compared with the same period last year. The corridor from Libya to Crete was the busiest section on the route, ahead of the eastern Aegean islands and the land border with Turkey.

FILE - Migrants who arrived recently at the island of Crete, despite a suspension of asylum claims and plans for tougher detention rules, are being held under guard at a temporary shelter in the village of Agia, near Chania city, on the island of Crete, southern Greece, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Giannis Angelakis File)