Updated November 11, 2026 - 11.56pm . First published at 7.17pm
Michael Vaughan was not impressed with the way in which Usman Khawaja aired the dirty, eight-year-old laundry of Australia’s Test cricket team.
“He’s absolutely got the right to write a book. The only gripe with me is that it’s (Sandpapergate) come out in a book , and obviously, there’s a commercial gain,” the England great said at Fox Cricket’s summer launch in Sydney.
Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith. Getty
“Usman will say not , but I’d love for him to have announced that he’s bringing a book out and all the proceeds are going to charity, and that’s his story told. But again, Usman’s got his reasons for why he’s done it this way. It’s just a little bit of a gripe for me that’s a commercial gain.”
Khawaja has said he didn’t write his autobiography Sabr for the money, and he didn’t revisit Cape Town just to sell more copies.
Tuesday’s promotional event was completely dominated by the events of 2018.
Mitchell Starc stuck to his 2021 script and said the ball was now in Khawaja’s court as to whether the former teammates maintained a relationship moving forward.
Khawaja and his mate David Warner will remain in the spotlight all summer as Vaughan’s commentary team colleagues.
“I want to read the whole book to make sure that I understand exactly what he’s gone through, and he’s been a tremendous player,” Vaughan said.
“I think he’s going to be a tremendous broadcaster. I already see the way that he broadcasts, and I believe he’s going to be working in the UK for the Ashes series, which is fantastic.
“He’ll be a big part of our team, and just because there’s one difference of opinion - I’d love to have seen him just do in a different way - but that’s absolutely fine. He has the right to write a book and put it out how he wants.”
Khawaja reignited the firestorm by saying “it was all of us” and urged the entire team to come clean at the time.
Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft were the only players punished, copping severe suspensions and being hounded by the media.
“They’re human beings, they made mistakes,” Vaughan said.
David Warner (L) and Michael Vaughan. Getty
“It doesn’t surprise me at all that there were more people that knew. We’ve all played cricket, we kind of know what happens with the ball, so that doesn’t surprise me. I have a huge amount of admiration for the way Usman’s protected three teammates.
“I felt at the time that there were three players that were hung out to dry, and they were treated in a way that I hope cricket learns from that experience.
“To see Steve Smith walking through the airport - I don’t think any of us want to see that kind of visual again in the game of cricket.”
Vaughan shot down calls for Cricket Australia to reopen the investigation as “nonsense.”
Adam Gilchrist , Australian cricket’s standard-bearer for fair play, stood next to Vaughan and was peppered with similar questions.
He was less forthcoming than Vaughan about the latest developments.
“There’s a few people involved in it, that it’s affected them. Not in a great way personally, so I’d rather not add to it,” Gilchrist said.
Adam Gilchrist. PA Images via Getty Images
“I suspect there’s some frustrated guys (in the current team) because there’s differing stories around, but that’s up to them to work out...
“There’s some people that have been deeply affected, in a tough way, I think it impacted.”
Gilchrist has been around long enough to know the story has plenty more legs.
“If we keep getting Instagram daily updates it’s going to keep bubbling away,” he quipped.
Australia has a monster Test schedule on the horizon.
There are four home matches against New Zealand in December-January then five away to India in January-March.
A day-night anniversary Test against England will be held at the MCG in March before an away Ashes series in June-August.
Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Usman Khawaja and Josh Hazlewood. Getty
Vaughan says Pat Cummins ′ men are vulnerable.
“They’ve just lost in South Africa. They lost the Test at home (against Bangladesh) a few months before that,” the former England captain said.
“Their bowling attack, which is right up there with the best attacks in the world, it’s not getting any younger. And it’s been the bowlers really... that’s got them out of a few tricky positions, and that can’t go on forever. The batters are going to have to stand up.”
In that sense Vaughan described the series loss in South Africa as a positive tour overall, given the promising performances of Matt Renshaw and Josh Inglis.
Ex-New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming starts his England coaching reign with a Test series in South Africa in December-January.
“England will be happy with this situation because Australia are under a huge amount of pressure,” Vaughan said.
“But as we saw in 2019, as we saw in 2023, Australia will put up a good fight in England next year.”
was not impressed with the way in which aired the dirty, eight-year-old laundry of
“He’s absolutely got the right to write a book. The only gripe with me is that it’s (Sandpapergate) , and obviously, there’s a commercial gain,” the England great said at Fox Cricket’s summer launch in Sydney.
“Usman , but I’d love for him to have announced that he’s bringing a book out and all the proceeds are going to charity, and that’s his story told. But again, Usman’s got his reasons for why he’s done it this way. It’s just a little bit of a gripe for me that’s a commercial gain.”
and said the ball was now in Khawaja’s court as to whether the former teammates maintained a relationship moving forward.
Khawaja and his mate will remain in the spotlight all summer as Vaughan’s commentary team colleagues.
Warner, and Cameron Bancroft were the only players punished, copping severe suspensions and being hounded by the media.
, Australian cricket’s standard-bearer for fair play, stood next to Vaughan and was peppered with similar questions.
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