Australia opener David Warner has expressed disappointment with Cricket Australia (CA) for attempting to retract his lifetime captaincy ban last year. Warner, alongside Steve Smith suffered a two-year ban each for their involvement in the 2018 ball-tampering incident. However, Warner also had undergone a leadership ban.
Know what Warner said in his statement –
Warner then filed an appeal in November 2022 to have his suspension revoked after CA revised its code of conduct, which at the time stated that players could not review a sentence once they had accepted it.
He was supposed to plead his case in front of a three-person independent panel which he assumed would be private.
The panel preferred to have the hearing in secret. Warner strongly opposed it and articulated in a lengthy statement as he withdrew his appeal. Warner told the Sydney Morning Herald – “It was ridiculous.”
Warner further said –
“I wanted to put it to bed and they kept on just dragging it out and not giving answers. No one wanted to be accountable, no one wanted to make a decision. You have an administration where there seemed to be a lack of leadership.”
Warner added – “They could have nipped it in the bud straight away, but I’m getting a phone call day one, two, three of the Test matches and speaking to lawyers etc when I didn’t need to. I actually felt disrespected in the way that I wasn’t able to actually have a clear mind to play the game and concentrate on the game.”
