"Felt Disrespected": David Warner Slams Cricket Australia Over Captaincy Ban Saga

Veteran batter David Warner has slammed Cricket Australia (CA) for attempting to revoke his lifetime captaincy ban last year. In 2018, Warner, alongwith Steve Smith, was banned for two years, having played his part in a ball-tampering scandal. CA had also imposed a leadership ban on him. However, 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 suppose to appear in front of a three-member panel, only to withdraw from his appeal after knowing that the hearing would be private.

"It was ridiculous. 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 told Sydney Morning Herald.

Warner suggested while he wanted to put an end to the whole drama, CA kept on dragging the issue, which also impacted his performance on the field.

"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.