Australian batsman David Warner Slams Cricket Australia Over Captaincy Ban Saga
Veteran batsman David Warner has slammed Cricket Australia for trying to repeal his lifetime captaincy ban last year. In 2018, Warner and Steve Smith were banned for two years because of their involvement in a ball-tampering scandal. CA had also imposed a leadership ban on him. But, after CA reworded its code of conduct, which initially stated players could not review a sanction once they had accepted it, Warner submitted an appeal to have his ban overturned in November last year.
Warner was supposed to appear in front of a three-member panel, only to withdraw from his appeal after knowing that the hearing was going to be private.
Warner said, "It was ridiculous. I wanted to put it to bed, but they kept 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 seems to be a lack of leadership."
Warner also said that he wanted to end the whole drama because it was affecting his performance on the field.
He added, "They could have nipped it in the bud straight away, but I'm getting a phone call on days one, two, and 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 have a clear mind to play the game and concentrate on it. So from that perspective, it wasn't even like, 'Oh, let's stop and we'll come back to this.' It took nine months; it was launched in February 2022. I was extremely disappointed."