The empire has struck back.

After retired Test batsman Usman Khawaja threw the first powerful jab-cross in Sandpapergate Mark II with startling revelations in his book Sabr that Cape Town was a “one-in-all-in” ball tampering affair, Australian cricket was wobbly on its feet.

But just as it appeared Cricket Australia might throw in the towel, its Test captain Pat Cummins has stepped into the ring to finish Khawaja off with a KO uppercut.

In an extraordinary 70-minute press conference, a marathon by any standards in sport, held at Cricket Central at Sydney Olympic Park, Cummins was unequivocal in his responses to allegations Khawaja, landing blow after body blow on to his former teammate in front of a press pack of 30 reporters.

COMPLETE AND UTTER NONSENSE

After informing reporters he would answer questions til there were no more to ask - “I don’t want to talk about this again after today, so even if it takes all day” - Cummins described Khawaja’s allegations the entire side was aware of ball tampering on their infamous tour of South Africa in 2018, as “complete and utter nonsense”.

“When he says ‘we all knew’, if by that he means that we knew sandpaper was going out on the field, he is 100 per cent wrong,” Cummins said.

“I’ve said that consistently for the last eight years. I did not know that was happening.

“But I think Usman actually says things that are actually far more serious than that. He says I and others were architects of a scheme to ball-tamper with sandpaper. That’s complete and utter nonsense.

“Some of these things are probably true, and they’re his (Khawaja’s) accounts of what happened, but I think there’s a few big leaps here, where he is being vague. I think the details really matter.

“Perhaps, there was conversations with Cam Bancroft about taking sandpaper out and how to do it. That doesn’t mean that everyone in that dressing room knew what was going on.”

CASUAL FRIENDS

He had some advice for Khawaja on what true friendship looked like.

“Usman and I are friends, but friends aren’t casual with each other’s lives or reputations. In his book, Uzzy has been casual with my life and the lives of many others, and, I think, Australian cricket,” Cummins said.

“I don’t know what’s taken Usman so long . . . there’s been some allegations this week that you have to respond to.

“I know Uz, he’s not naive. He knew this was going to be a hot topic. To have statements such as ‘we all knew’ — well, we all knew about what? For me, that’s very casual.”

BANS WAY OVER THE TOP

The Australian captain described as “way over the top” the punishments handed down to Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, the three players Cricket Australia’s investigation found were responsible for bringing sandpaper on to the field during the Cape Town Test.

Smith and Warner were handed one-year bans, Bancroft received a nine-month ban.

“There was a lot of lawlessness about what was going on in that series … it was just a crazy series and I’m very glad we haven’t seen a series like that since,” he said.

“And it [ball tampering] was also quite prevalent. We have heard stories of other teams doing it.

“I think the whole scale got a little bit lost (in the punishments given to those three players).

“It’s my personal opinion but I think their bans were way over the top.”

NO TEAM COLLECTIVE

After Khawaja revealed in the past week he had been a firm advocate for the team taking collective responsibility at the time of the incident, rather than allowing blame to be pinned on Bancroft, vice-captain Warner and captain Smith, Cummins said he could not recall the batsman sharing that view.

“I definitely don’t remember that, and I’ve spoken to a few other people (who have said) exactly the same,” he said.

WIN AT ALL COSTS

The fast bowler did agree Australia’s side at the time had a “win at all costs mentality”, an “ugly underbelly” and “too many silos in the team”.

He added he hoped he had helped to eradicate those traits during his time as captain.

“My memories of coming back into that side was there were parts that I didn’t really think were OK,” he said.

“I thought the way we acted on the field was quite abrasive. I didn’t like some of the way we spoke to umpires, the opposition.

“I think there was a bit of arrogance and a bit of an ugliness at times that didn’t really sit well with me as a young guy.”

SANDPAPER NORMAL AT TRAINING

It was common for cricketers to carry sandpaper in their kitbags to training, according to Cummins.

“It’s actually, again, quite a normal thing. We carry sandpaper, normally for the batters; they rough up their bats. But we actually use it for balls as well around training. You face a lot of reverse swing, so the batters want to face it and practise it in the nets,” he said.

“We’ve scratched balls on concrete, I’ve seen someone use a Stanley knife, I’ve seen sandpaper used. So, all the methods are very normal around training, so again I think it comes to [the claim that] ‘there must have been a grand plan’ because for the non-cricket, maybe for the non-international player it sounds absurd, and it is absurd to take sandpaper on the field, but trying to give a bit more context – it is a part of the change room.

“We may have been doing it around training, but there is a leap to then think it’s OK to take it on field, but maybe not perhaps as big a leap as some people may think.”

Cummins witnessed ball tampering in a Sheffield Shield match before the 2018 scandal.

“It was a batter, a senior player — I won’t mention him — he took a bottle cap out on the field,” he said.

“I was looking at it going ‘Wow, that’s not OK’. The umpires knew it as well, they caught him out and said ‘You’ve got to stop that right now’. It was dealt with.”

THE DARK ARTS

During the marathon presser, Cummins often used the phrase “the dark arts” to describe on-field “ball management”, among claims all teams in world cricket were working the ball for a reverse swing advantage: keeping it shiny and hard initially for conventional swing and then roughing the old ball up on one side so it would “go” reverse.

“Why not? Let’s get into it,” he said, when asked directly about the ‘Dark Arts”.

“I had heard superglue on brandings, so you shine the ball there. I’ve heard zippers, I’ve heard superglue on gloves, the keeper’s gloves so you can catch it. I have heard nail polish, layers and layers of nail polish. I bite my fingers, so I would be terrible but growing [a nail] out and make it super hard and using that. I’ve heard, obviously, the Murray Mints as one,” he said.

RACISM

Of all the allegations raised by Khuwaja, Cummins felt claims the batsman was overlooked for the Australian Test captaincy – in the wash up of the sandpaper crisis – because he was not white was “the most serious”.

“I think of all the things I’ve read this week, I think that’s actually the most serious,” Cummins said, who was playing in his 13th Test at the time the scandal broke.

“To think the job that I hold is quarantined from people based on their skin colour, that’s a pretty big statement. I think if you’re going to say that, I think you’ve got to have some evidence, and I just don’t think that’s the case.

“So again, I agree with Uzzy on a lot of things, but I disagree. I tell him that I disagree and him saying that if you’re Australian captain you have to be a certain skin colour, I couldn’t disagree with that statement any more.”

LEGAL ACTION

There will be no legal action launched by Cummins over the claims, although he did fire another warning shot across Khawaja’s bow in the process.

“I did get advised this week that some of the things that have [been] said are probably defamatory. I won’t be doing that. You got to move on. It’s been eight years,” he said.

“We’re moving on, we are moving on. You got to draw the line at some point. I won’t be doing that.”

PLEASE EXPLAIN

Cummins conceded the players and Cricket Australia could have “done a better job” of explaining what actually happened.

“Maybe we should have done a better job of explaining over the years. Perhaps the public does deserve it. We are Australian property. But it is a really difficult one.,” he said.

NO PROBE

Cummins said CA should not reopen their probe into 2018 events and revealed he’d had a conversation with its CEO Todd Greenberg since Khawaja went public.

“He just said to me — I don’t like breaking confidences, but I’m sure he won’t mind me saying — he knew the book was coming out, he revisted all the transcripts and we’ve been very consistent and none of it warrants reopening it,” he said.

AND NOW FOR A GUINNESS ...

The press conference ended, mercifully, on a note of levity.

“Is anyone from Guinness here?” he said, when a reporter suggested it was the longest press conference in Australian sporting history.