Australia captain Pat Cummins on Friday said former teammate Usman Khawaja was "100 per cent wrong" by claiming the whole team knew about the "Sandpapergate" ball-tampering scandal, calling it "complete and utter nonsense".
The retired Khawaja reopened old wounds with the release of his autobiography this week and a chapter dealing with the 2018 ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.
In the book, the opener alleged that the whole team, including Cummins, knew about the plot to rough up the ball with sandpaper to make it swing.
The scandal centred around the third test in Cape Town, but Khawaja also claimed the tactic was used in the second Test at Port Elizabeth.
A Cricket Australia probe concluded only David Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft were in the know, with all three sent home in disgrace and subsequently banned.
"When he says we all knew, if by that he means we knew sandpaper was going out on the field, he's 100 percent wrong," Cummins said at a press conference in his first comments since.
"I said that consistently for the last eight years. I did not know that was happening.
"He says that I and others were architects of a scheme to ball tamper with sandpaper. That's complete and utter nonsense."
Cummins and fellow bowlers Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon all denied publicly in 2021 that they were aware of the plan.
Warner has this week strongly backed his close friend Khawaja's new version of events.
But Darren Lehmann, who was head coach at the time, denied any knowledge, as did former batting coach Graeme Hick who also rubbished Khawaja's allegations as "absolutely false".
"Usman is a friend, but friends aren't casual with each other's lives and reputations," added Cummins.
"In his book he's been casual with my life and the lives of many others and I think Australian cricket.
"I support him to tell his story, 100 percent, I'm glad he feels like he can, but we have to be accountable for the things that we say and do."
Cricket Australia has ruled out reopening their investigation with chairman David Boon on Thursday assuring Cummins that his job was safe, regardless.