Daily Times

MELBOURNE: David Warner has given up his attempts at having his lifetime leadership ban overturned and launched a scathing attack on the process, claiming the independent panel put in place to review the sanction wanted to put him through a “public lynching”. In lengthy social-media posts that went up shortly before 6pm on the eve of the Adelaide Test, Warner alleged that the counsel assisting the review panel, which is independent of Cricket Australia, had made “offensive” comments during the process. When CA ratified the amendment to their code of conduct, which allowed Warner to appeal his leadership ban, they confirmed it was not an appeal against the initial decision or a review of the original offence — the role he played during the Newlands ball-tampering saga in 2018.

“In effect, Counsel Assisting, and, it appears, to some extent the Review Panel, want to conduct a public trial of me and what occurred during the Third Test at Newlands,” Warner wrote. “They want to conduct a public spectacle to, in the Panel’s words, have a “cleansing”. I am not prepared for my family to be the washing machine for cricket’s dirty laundry. Counsel Assisting the Review Panel appeared to be determined to revisit the events of March 2018 and the Review Panel appears determined to expose me and my family to further humiliation and harm by conducting a media circus. Regrettably, I have no practical alternative at this point in time but to withdraw my application. I am not prepared to subject my family or my teammates to further trauma and disruption by accepting a departure from the way in which my application should be dealt with pursuant to the Code of Conduct. Some things are more important than cricket.”

As part of the statement that extended beyond 700 words, Warner added that the counsel assisting’s role had been terminated and that CA had supported him in challenging the approach the review panel had taken, but that after a week they had decided to ignore the request in any meaningful way.

Warner also spelt out the impact the last four years have had on him and his family and the efforts he has made to rehabilitate himself. A Cricket Australia spokesperson confirmed that they supported Warner’s bid to have the hearing in private. “We are disappointed with this outcome as our intention was to give David the opportunity to demonstrate why his lifetime leadership ban should be varied at an independent hearing and we amended our Code of Conduct accordingly,” a statement said. Although it was far from certain that Warner would have had the opportunity to captain again if his ban had been overturned he had been discussed as a short-term option for Australia’s T20 side heading into the 2024 T20 World Cup.