Lifting David Warner’s leadership ban is right thing to do and good business, too

While Australians have locked with screens or gone to grounds for another installation of the footy season, leaders and lanyards from Cricket Australia have been quietly war-gaming the small matter of the sport’s future and their fragile place in it. But the scent of blossoming wattle in the cool morning air means that spring has arrived; footy is soon over, cricket will soon be here and Australians are asking: why are we talking about David Warner as captain?

Obviously, these things cannot be answered exclusively through a sporting prism. Why would we do that when there are social, political, broadcast, entertainment, geopolitical, historic and economic interests to overlay it with, too? Sure, there is a white-ball vacancy and he is Australia’s best and most experienced player, an admired tactician and respected senior figure among his teammates. But on the other hand, wasn’t he banned for life from leadership positions for that thing? And what’s he like as a bloke?

By now, the potential overturning of Warner’s ban has little to do with whether or not he replaces Aaron Finch. Instead, the question is more entangled with the extent to which CA needs Warner, the implications of private equity, the future of cricket, and Sandpaper. Warner finds himself the lightning rod for all of it.

Warner wants his lifetime ban overturned. Less to assume the captaincy, more to achieve redress. He is supported by the players’ union, the Australian Cricketers’ Association, which made formal representations to CA several months ago on this specific issue, without response. Senior teammates publicly support Warner, too. The ignominy of a lifetime punishment would weigh heavily on anyone. His career is in its twilight, and it would be