David Warner

Key points: James Erskine suggests CA gave players approval to tamper with the ball; Warner served a ban following the 2018 Cape Town ball-tampering scandal; He ...

"Warner said: 'We've got to reverse-swing the ball. "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 CA spokesperson said. The drama of Warner's leadership ban has continued after he pulled his application to have his sanction lifted due to frustration over the public nature of the review process.

David Warner's manager, James Erskine, has claimed players were encouraged by Cricket Australia officials to tamper with the ball in the wake of their loss ...

For the good of the cricket team? For the good of us? [Carla Jaeger](/by/carla-jaeger-p5364x)is a reporter at The AgeConnect via For the good of who? “I’m completely against it – I think tampering with balls is a joke, but it has gone on for centuries. They [the review panel] want this open court on the appeal.

How the process to review the penalty imposed on David Warner four years ago became a contentious issue.

There was a school of thought that Warner may have the opportunity in the BBL but that wouldn't have happened this season. [rejoined amid much fanfare](https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/david-warner-s-bbl-return-confirmed-with-two-year-sydney-thunder-deal-1330047)and a whopping CA marketing contract - is reducing due to the tour of India and Thunder have [appointed Jason Sangha as captain](https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/bbl-2022-23-adam-zampa-and-jason-sangha-named-bbl-captains-1348360). The leadership and board of CA had changed significantly since the initial sanctions, but the first stumbling block was the wording of the code of conduct that did not actually allow a player to appeal a punishment once they had accepted it - which Warner did back in 2018. "They want to conduct a public spectacle to, in the Panel's words, have a "cleansing". The amendment to the code of conduct said that any review of a sanction had to be done by an independent panel that could set their own terms and conditions. The review panel decided they wanted the hearing to be held in public with it, in effect, becoming a re-trial of what happened in 2018, rather than the more narrow focus on whether Warner had demonstrated that he should be allowed leadership positions again. The key part for Warner was needing to demonstrate "genuine remorse" and it was widely assumed he would be able to show this strongly given his clean disciplinary record since 2018 and endorsements from many key figures around the game. Essentially, an attempt to be seen to do the right thing. It was in February this year that the first suggestions of Cricket Australia overturning Warner's leadership ban started to emerge, but it became a long, drawn-out process. "I understand that they put a ban in place but banning someone for life I think is a bit harsh. [caught with sandpaper](https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/cameron-bancroft-steven-smith-admit-to-ball-tampering-1141516)down his trousers and [Australia admitted to ball-tampering](https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/desperation-drove-australia-to-cheat-steven-smith-1141521). Here's a rundown of how the game got into this tangle.

Cricket Australia's mismanagement of the ball-tampering scandal in its early days, and David Warner's reluctance to make a detailed confession, ...

His strength as a cricketer has always lain in the clarity of his mind and his eye, the ability to leave the past in the past, the absence of thought. And that section of the public that is still so disappointed in Australian cricket leaders cheating, well, it has a long memory, and it cannot be placed under control. There has not, however, been any open confession, and even given the liberty of putting it Many cricket followers take the opposite view, as is their right, and it is they who block Warner’s reinstatement, who continue to protest his presence in Australian colours, and who refuse him the redemption of having a ‘C’ after his name. Even Steve Smith has been forgiven – he tossed the coin on Thursday in Adelaide while Warner steeled himself to convert his anger and resentment into the big score that an enfeebled West Indies attack and perfect batting conditions appeared to serve up to him, by way of apology. They say mean things about Warner to Cricket Australia as well, and if Cricket Australia commutes his life sentence it will be over their dead bodies.

'They were told to do it': Warner's manager makes explosive ball-tampering claims.

of course, they (Cricket Australia) want this open court on the appeal. “I’m completely against it, I think tampering with balls is a joke, but it has gone on for centuries. “Cricket is not everything, cricket is what he does, but cricket does not define him and the person he is, the fact there was a lack of player welfare and no welfare about David and our family speaks volumes.” “He has shut up, he protected Cricket Australia, he protected his fellow players on my advice, because at the end of the day no one wanted to hear any more of it and he’s got on playing cricket,” Erskine said. But after he was informed the Cricket Australia panel wanted public “cleansing” he withdraw from attempting to overturn the ban. They can’t fire all of us’. There’s two cricketers who put their hands up and said ‘why don’t we all just tell the truth? “The Prime Minister came out (at the time), (Malcolm) Turnbull came out and said this is a disgrace and whatever, I think he regrets those comments now, Cricket Australia had the whole process, the (Iain) Roy report was done in four days. “I think he’s fed up with the process, the trauma (from) that the original decision in South Africa, to his family and Candice (Warner’s wife), she lost a baby because of it,” Erskine said on there’s lots of people. “Two senior executives were in the changing room in Hobart (in 2016) and basically were berating the team for losing against South Africa – and Warner said that we’ve got to reverse swing the ball and the only way we can reverse swing the ball is basically by tampering with it – and so they were told to do it,” he said. [released a statement on Instagram](https://www.foxsports.com.au/cricket/australia/australian-cricket-news-2022-david-warner-withdraws-from-process-to-overturn-leadership-ban-cricket-australia-statement/news-story/c35a5c6e65387011a3e2eedc8f194548) on Wednesday, revealing he has withdrawn from his attempts to overturn his leadership ban, accusing the review panel of trying to create a “public lynching”.

David Warner's manager James Erskine has sensationally claimed a 'master-slave relationship' between Cricket Australia and players led to hierarchy orders ...

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For all the headlines and quasi-judicial headaches, David Warner is still yet to silence concerns about an on-field slump. DANIEL CHERNY unpacks the ...

David Warner's manager has levelled some explosive new allegations about the ball-tampering scandal. Read more here.

Readers discuss David Warner and the Australian captaincy; resource profits; and COVID mental health.

Former Australian Test captain Michael Clarke has called on Cricket Australia to address explosive claims made by David Warner's manager James Erskine, ...

“This is in the lead-up. The players in that Test match would want this to go away. “While it doesn’t, you’re walking out on the field playing with that in the back of your mind thinking, ‘Oh my God, what are we going to see when we come off for lunch? It’s not going to end.” I want to know, as a past Australian captain, I want to know what is going on inside this set-up. This is every man for themselves. It is horrible.” This thing is getting out of control. Listen, I don’t care if you’ve got to go back to James Sutherland, pick up the phone and call him or Pat Howard or anyone else who was involved with what James Erskine is saying because you’re not sweeping this. This thing is not going away, the truth needs to be told. Well, you know what, I’m going to say the opposite because yesterday is an explosion. When I saw that [news] yesterday my jaw hit the floor.”

There is one - and only one - way that Cricket Australia's leaders Nick Hockley and Lachlan Henderson can dig themselves out of this hole.

As it happens, this fits with the opinions of keen observers of Australian cricket who report, with considerable regret (and perhaps the benefit of hindsight), that the events in Newland were ‘disappointing but not surprising’.” [Sign up for our Sport newsletter](/link/follow-20170101-p56jal). Doing so meant that any revisitation of the matter would be about much more than Warner alone and instead encompass the conduct code. That’s why Warner’s ban should be ended by the CA board, preferably before this Test match ends. Anything less would dig the hole deeper. Usman Khawaja’s dressing room assertion that the team should have taken collective responsibility still stands out.