D'Arcy Waldegrave: Australian Cricket's sandpaper scandal refuses to die

Corn popped, settling in for the mother of all cricketing pie fights.   

Just when Australian Cricket thought they'd buried one of the more embarrassing bodies from their past, Usman Khawaja got his autobiographical shovel out and exhumed the corpse of Sandpaper-gate.  It turns out it hadn't rotted away – far from it. The humiliating cadaver of the Australian 'win at all costs' cricketing mentality had some life still left in it. It's taken on a zombie-like state. This story refuses to die.  

Khawaja asserts that the whole regrettable affair was not only of their making, but the whole team knew about it. Which makes perfect sense. Anyone who has ever played cricket, who has ever bowled a ball, who has ever handled the cherry, can see if the ball has been messed with at best, tampered with at worst. If the 'modification' can't be detected by the naked eye, it will be wholly ineffective, ergo, there has been no deliberate meddling.  

Australian Cricket has been quick to state that the throwing under the bus of three of their number is the final action in this regrettable space. Their want to inter the incident and leave it unmolested is understandable. Their shabby process to determine guilt and apportion blame I expect would be exposed, should further investigation be triggered.   

David Warner has backed Khawaja's claims, Aussie skipper Cummins has refuted the accusations, and no-one's heard from Bancroft or Smith, the other two scapegoats.   

It was a long time ago, but the whole team should've carried the blame, then the story would've died. Cricket Australia deserve this pumice storm for lumping the blame on three players. No pity here.   

The only part of this CA zombie that scares me is the on-field blowback. This could go one of two ways: the Aussies respond by blowing the Black Caps off the park, or they curl up and die in the upcoming four test series.   

Whatever the test result, however long this scandal carries on, it's all great content.