Ahead of the WTC Final 2023 against India on June 7 at The Oval, in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, veteran Australian opener David Warner criticised Cricket Australia (CA) over their handling of the leadership ban placed on him. Warner was handed a lifetime/captaincy leadership ban by the CA after he was banned for one year from cricket due to his involvement in the ball-tampering scandal, while the then-captain Steve Smith was banned for only two years.
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Last year, Warner tried to lift the leadership ban placed on him, which didn’t allow him to have any leadership role. CA made changes to its player code of conduct policy, which allowed Warner to appeal before an independent panel of three code of conduct commissioners. However, Warner withdrew his appeal following public criticism and further said CA was responsible for it as he felt that the proceedings should be done behind closed doors.
David Warner on the whole ordeal
The southpaw decided to open up about the whole matter and said that Cricket Australia (CA) lacks 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.
Warner said that he felt disrespected by the way CA treated him, and it took away his focus from cricket as he was talking to his lawyers even during a 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 further added.
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