The bowlers’ silence is only partial, and everything said so far points back to their 2021 joint statement. Starc and Cummins have both spoken since Khawaja’s book Sabr came out on 7 November, and neither has moved off what the group said then. Hazlewood and Lyon, the other two signatories of that statement, have no reported public reaction. Warner’s Instagram video on 9 November raised the pressure on all four, yet Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg ruled out reopening the investigation a day later.
Four Signatories and Where They Stand
Starc has given the clearest reply, and it is a very short one. His opinion and his recollection are unchanged from the 2021 joint statement, he said, and he has not paid much attention to the fallout since the book appeared. That comment was published on 10 November, although the date he made it is unclear. Scott Boland, who was not among the signatories, struck a similar note when he said he had not seen anything untoward, a line that fits the group’s wider approach.
Cummins sounded warmer but gave no more ground. Khawaja gave him advance notice of the book, he said, and he told Khawaja to go ahead and tell his story because it was fine. He also pointed out that the group had dealt with these questions many times already, which is the same message with a friendlier face. Hazlewood and Lyon remain unheard, which leaves two of the four names on the 2021 statement without a public word.
Warner Khawaja Sandpapergate Bowlers Silence Follows the 2021 Script
The joint statement went out on 18 May 2021 under the names of Cummins, Hazlewood, Starc and Lyon. It said none of them knew a foreign substance had been taken onto the field, called the episode wrong and something that should never have happened, and urged people to stop the rumours and insinuations. Every line of it was written to close the matter, and five years on it still reads as the only script the group has. No signatory has offered a different version since.
Seen against that text, the replies are easy to read. Repeating a settled position costs a bowler nothing, while a fresh answer to a book risks contradicting three teammates. That arithmetic explains why Starc and Cummins can speak and still say very little. It also suggests the two who have not spoken may feel no need to, because the statement already speaks for them.
Cricket Australia Closes the Door
Cricket Australia reacted on 7 November, the day the book appeared. It said it remained comfortable with the findings of its integrity process, and that anyone with information could still bring it forward. Warner then posted an Instagram video on 9 November. He called Khawaja’s account 100 per cent accurate, described the original inquiry as rushed and botched, and said Khawaja was never interviewed.
Greenberg answered on 10 November, a day after the video, without addressing it directly. He saw no compelling reason to reopen the investigation and no benefit in going back over it. That ends any official route for fresh scrutiny. It also leaves the bowlers with little reason to volunteer anything beyond what they put in writing five years ago, since the governing body itself has declined to ask.
Sayers Raises the Awkward Question
Chadd Sayers weighed in on 7 November, the same day the book reached readers. He said everything in Khawaja’s article was accurate, then asked why Khawaja had not spoken up at the time if he felt so strongly. He had called the Cape Town episode a bleak chapter for the squad in October, so the view is not new. The comment cuts both ways: it grants the account while doubting the timing.
The Warner Khawaja Sandpapergate bowlers’ silence will hold only while nobody asks Hazlewood and Lyon directly. Starc and Cummins have shown the group answer, and Boland has shown it reaches beyond the signatories. A single on-record reply that departs from 2021 would change the story at once and give the other three something to answer. Until that arrives, the 2021 statement stays the last word, and the pressure stays on the two who have not spoken.