‘Actually Felt Disrespected in The way That…’: David Warner Slams CA Over Leadership Ban Row

Veteran Australian opener David Warner lashed out at Cricket Australia for how it handled things when he submitted an appeal to have his leadership ban overturned in November last year. Warner was slapped with a lifetime leadership ban by CA after his involvement in the infamous sandpaper ball-tampering scandal where he and Steve Smith were banned for one year from cricket. While Smith was banned from holding a leadership position in Australian cricket for two years, Warner had handed a lifetime leadership ban by their cricket governing body.

Last year, Warner applied for a review of his lifetime ban on holding any leadership role. While CA amended its player code of conduct policy which paved the way for him to request a review of the captaincy ban before an independent panel of three code of conduct commissioners.

Warner was not impressed with the public lynching and he expected that the proceedings should be done behind closed doors in private. Later, the Aussie star withdrew his appeal.

The 36-year-old recently opened up on the matter once again and said Cricket Australia lack leadership.

“It was ridiculous,” Warner told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“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,” he added.

While the Australian batter said he felt disrespected by the way CA treated him as he was talking to his lawyers during the Test match.

“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.

“So from that perspective it wasn’t even like, ‘Oh, let’s stop and we’ll come back to this.’ It was nine months, it was launched in February (2022). I was extremely disappointed,” he added.