New Delhi, November 15, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Former Australia vice-captain David Warner’s manager, James Erskine, has accused Cricket Australia (CA) of withholding information during its investigation into the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, commonly known as Sandpapergate. Erskine claims Warner would not have accepted his one-year suspension had he known that three Australian fast bowlers had also been interviewed during the inquiry.
The controversy has resurfaced after Warner questioned whether CA had interviewed Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood as part of its investigation following the Cape Town Test in March 2018.
Warner initially said he was unaware that the trio had been interviewed. After reports emerged that all three had given statements, he clarified that CA had never informed him of their interviews or provided him with their statements when he agreed to his suspension.
Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, Erskine said Warner would not have signed the statement accepting the one-year ban had he known the full details of the investigation. He alleged that CA had told Warner that only a limited number of individuals, including Pat Cummins, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft, had been interviewed.
“He has now proven without any hesitation that in 2018, Cricket Australia withheld information,” Erskine said.
The manager also said Warner had requested access to the statements submitted to Iain Roy, who headed CA’s integrity investigation at the time. Erskine questioned why the findings of the inquiry, commonly referred to as the Roy report, had never been made public.
Warner and Smith were each handed 12-month bans following the scandal, while Bancroft received a nine-month suspension.
In a social media post, Warner had questioned CA’s account of the bowlers’ knowledge of the ball-tampering episode and alleged that the investigation had been inadequate. He subsequently clarified that his earlier comments reflected the information available to him when he accepted the punishment.
The renewed dispute has placed the transparency and handling of CA’s 2018 investigation back under scrutiny. However, the allegations made by Warner and his manager have not, by themselves, established that the board deliberately withheld evidence.
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