Cricket Australia chairman David Boon has thrown his support behind Test captain Pat Cummins following fresh allegations about the 2018 ball-tampering scandal. Boon has made it clear that Cummins’ position as captain is safe and that the board continues to have full faith in him.The controversy has returned to the spotlight after former Australia batter Usman Khawaja made fresh claims in his autobiography, “Sabr”. Khawaja alleged that all members of the Australian team on the 2018 South Africa tour knew about the plan to tamper with the ball.His claims have reopened the debate over the scandal and led to demands for another investigation. Cummins, who now leads Australia’s Test team, has also come under pressure to explain what he knew.

Boon says Cricket Australia has full faith in Cummins

Boon said Cummins had led the team with honesty and had the board’s complete backing.“We absolutely support Pat,” Boon said in comments published by The Australian on Thursday.“He’s been an exemplary captain, he’s led the team with integrity and, you know, very successfully over the period of time that he’s been captain, so there’s no question of our confidence in him continuing on in that fact.”Cummins has not yet publicly addressed Khawaja’s allegations. He, however, posted on X that he would speak to the media on Friday after going through the claims.“I’ve taken some time to try and better understand the long list and full extent of Uzzy’s allegations so I can respond properly,” he wrote.Mitchell Marsh, Australia’s white-ball captain, is also expected to address the issue. Marsh was part of the Test team during the 2018 tour and will speak at a press conference in Perth later on Thursday, ahead of the ODI against England.

Warner and Sayers support Khawaja’s version

Khawaja’s claims have received support from former teammate David Warner. Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft were all banned for their roles in the ball-tampering scandal.Former Australia fast bowler Chadd Sayers, who was also part of the 2018 South Africa tour, has also backed Khawaja. Speaking to Australian media last weekend, Sayers said the allegations were “accurate”.Despite the fresh claims, Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg said on Tuesday that there was no compelling reason to reopen the investigation.Boon repeated the same position, saying the board did not want to get into a dispute over different versions of events.“I respect (Usman’s) point of view and his recollections of what occurred, and they’re his, but we don’t want to get into a he-said-she-said argument,” he said.“There are going to be supporters, there’s going to be other guys that don’t recollect the same thing, so I don’t see a purpose.”

Hick and Starc deny prior knowledge

In his book “Sabr”, released this week, Khawaja claimed that Australia had tampered with the ball during the second Test in South Africa as well, and not just in the third Test in Cape Town.Former Australia batting coach Graeme Hick has strongly rejected the claims, calling them “absolutely false”.“In regard to any discussions around the ball-tampering in Port Elizabeth or Cape Town that took place, I will say in true honesty that I did not hear or know anything,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.Fast bowler Mitchell Starc has also denied having prior knowledge of the ball-tampering.In 2021, Starc and fellow bowlers Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon issued a joint statement. They said they did not know that a “foreign substance” had been taken onto the field to tamper with the ball during the Cape Town Test.