Days before WTC Final, David Warner launches attack at Cricket Australia: 'I actually felt disrespected'

Three Australian players David Warner, Steve Smith, Cameron Bancroft were found guilty of ball-tampering during the Test against South Africa in Cape Town

SportsTak

• Sat • 03 Jun 2023

Former Australian skipper David Warner has revealed his massive displeasure at the way that Cricket Australia handled the star players during the infamous sandpaper scandal less than a week before the World Test Championship (WTC ) Final to be played between India and Australia from June 7 at The Oval ground in England.

In 2018, three Australian players David Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft were found guilty of ball-tampering during the Test against South Africa in Cape Town. All three received bans from playing while Warner and Smith were dismissed from their roles in the leadership group.

However, when a change was introduced in the Code of Conduct of the Australian Cricket Board and Warner got a chance to lift his ban but was not happy with the way they handled his appeal, which he eventually withdrew because he wanted the independent panel of three code of conduct commissioners to review of the captaincy ban in private but instead, it between a public show.

“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 revealed that he kept receiving calls during the Test match and instead of focusing on the match, he had to talk to lawyers.

“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,” he said.

“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,” the Delhi Capitals skipper added.