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Cricket Australia has broken the silence by issuing a verdict that backs David Warner after the Aussie opener decided to retract his application in a bid to lift his lifetime captaincy ban. Warner was reprimanded with the punishment for partaking in the 2018 ‘Sandpaper’ scandal which shocked the whole cricketing world, but the Aussie batter was hopeful to take up the mantle of leadership following an independent review.
The 36-year-old star Australian batter decided to rescind his application and hit out at the relevant authority as they wanted to carry out the review in public as opposed to behind closed doors.
In a long-winded post, Warner took to Instagram and lashed out at the panel.
"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. 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," Warner said in his Instagram post.
"It appears that the Panel has given no more than passing consideration to issues of player welfare and the interests of Australian cricket and is instead determined to conduct a public lynching."
"Regrettably, I have no practical alternative at this point of 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 Code of Conduct.
"Some things are more important than cricket," he added.
The panel responded by expressing their disapproval of Warner's decision to withdraw the application but respected his call at the same time too.
"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," the CA statement said.
"We supported David’s wish for these discussions to be heard behind closed doors and respect his decision to withdraw his application."
"David is a very senior and highly regarded member of the Australian team who has been a great ambassador for the game as a whole since his return from a year-long ban," the statement further added.
