Ending David Warner’s leadership ban proves Australia’s cultural reset was a sham

David Warner could be free to captain Australia again within weeks, after Cricket Australia commissioned a review of the code of conduct, which would allow a penalty previously imposed on a player to be reviewed, undoing the lifetime ban on Warner captaining.

Warner was banned from holding a leadership position by Cricket Australia in 2018 - either in domestic or international cricket - for his part in the 'sandpapergate' affair, which also led to his year's suspension from the game. But Cricket Australia’s board have now requested that the organisation’s Head of Integrity propose an amendment to the Code of Conduct.

This could free Warner to become Australia’s new one-day international captain, a position that is currently vacant after Aaron Finch retired from the format last month.

The review is expected to be complete in a matter of weeks. If, as expected, a change to the code is agreed, Warner would immediately be free to captain again.

Cricket Australia stated that the amendment would allow a person to request that a previous penalty that they had accepted could subsequently be reviewed if the person’s conduct merited the change.

“The onus would be on the applicant to prove they had undergone genuine reform relevant to the offence they were sanctioned for,” a Cricket Australia statement read.

“Any review would not revisit the original sanction, other than suspension of a penalty in recognition of genuine reform.

“The amendment would allow a person to request a penalty that they had accepted be reviewed after an appropriate period of time.”

Warner has previously captained Australia on 12 occasions, as a stand-in basis in the limited-overs formats, and expressed his interest in leading his country during a rain delay in England's third T20 international against Australia.

"If it [the chance to captain Australia] ever presented itself it would be a privilege. For me, it's about focusing on the next game and what I have to do for the team. At this point in time that's what I have to do," said Warner.

"For me, I'm a leader in this team no matter what. It doesn't matter if you've got a c or a vc next to your name. You've got to put your best foot forward and lead by example."

After Finch’s retirement, there is a new vacancy for captain before the next ODI World Cup, which is being held in India in October 2023. Warner, who is still a regular in the team and has captained in the IPL, is a strong contender for the role. Pat Cummins, Australia’s Test captain, is considered the favourite to be new ODI skipper, but there could be concerns about his workload if he performs both roles.

Even if Cummins was appointed, Cricket Australia’s decision would pave the way for Warner to potentially step in on occasion, if the fast bowler was injured or rested. Cummins himself has pushed for Warner’s leadership ban to be overturned.

Warner would also be a strong candidate to assume a leadership role in the Big Bash, with Sydney Thunder. After months of speculation that he was angling to play in the lucrative new International League T20 in the UAE at the start of next year, Warner will instead return to the Big Bash, which he has not played in since 2014. Cricket Australia are keen to inject extra interest in the tournament, which has struggled in recent years, and the appointment of Warner would be a boost to the league’s profile.

Lachlan Henderson, the chair of Cricket Australia, said on Thursday that Warner’s conduct since returning to the side had led to the board reviewing the sanctions imposed upon him.

"The view within Cricket Australia is that David is doing particularly well on the field and making a great contribution," Henderson said.

"The first step in terms of David's leadership ban is to review the code and see if those sanctions are able to be reviewed. And the appropriate revisions to that code that would need to be made.

"It's not in anyone's interest for us to delay. It would be in time for any future leadership conversations in relation to David.”

Comment: Cultural reboot was appeasement of a baying public

By Will Macpherson

Cricket Australia, who imposed the draconian punishment, will meet on Friday in Hobart and will discuss rewriting its code of ethics to allow Warner to assume leadership roles again. Under the current code, players who accept a sanction waive their right to have it reviewed.

Lifting the ban would be tantamount to acceptance from CA – who do have different leadership now – of the overreaction in 2018 and recognition that Warner was hung out to dry.

Warner is, unsurprisingly, keen to have it overturned. His Australian team-mates, including Test skipper Pat Cummins, have been vocal in calling for it to end too. Warner has always been a sharp tactical mind, whether leading Australia before the ban or at the Indian Premier League. 

It makes practical sense for Australia to lift the ban, too. They do not currently have an ODI captain, after Aaron Finch accepted that next year’s World Cup was simply a bridge too far after an extended period of poor form. Warner would be a strong candidate, although not the favourite, with Cummins, Steve Smith, and keeper Alex Carey also contenders.

Warner, who will be 37 by the final of that tournament, might be a more likely international vice-captain, the job he was holding in 2018, but at domestic level it is a different story. Warner has signed up to play for Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash, at great expense as CA looks to lift its ailing league. A cursory glance through Thunder’s squad makes him the very obvious leader, but the ban needs lifting for him to do that.

We knew already that the cultural reboot undertaken by Australian cricket in the wake of sandpapergate was purely appeasement for a baying global cricket public – Tim Paine’s off-field transgressions confirmed that the new era was far from whiter than white. You cannot instantly erase the past and talk your way into a new culture with meaningless buzzwords; ironically, the real cultural change has come since Paine resigned and Cummins took over, immediately revealing himself to be a thoughtful leader of class which has filtered down to his side in an organic manner.

Warner has largely kept his counsel on sandpapergate. There were few histrionics. He accepted the punishment, recognising that he was the scapegoat (or, as his brother Steve once said, “escape goat”). In response, he threw himself into family life, built himself back up through club cricket, and has been a solid performer since returning to the international fold (excluding a painful 2019 Ashes at the hands of Stuart Broad). At some stage, once Warner is retired, we can expect a truly explosive book from a man who will likely feel he owes Australian cricket very little.

Warner is far from perfect. He has done some bad things on a cricket field, including sandpapergate, and off it too. But his manner and mistakes of the past made him an easy villain for CA in 2018, whether he truly was the ringleader or not.

Surely no one believes that only three people knew, or that this was the first time the ruse had been tried? The wicketkeeper who caught the ball hundreds of times a Test match has since captained Australia, so has one of the fast bowlers who bowled with it.

The year-long bans handed to Warner and Smith were punchy, but the addition of a life ban from leadership for the former was absurd. Smith, do not forget, was the captain at the time, and is now Test vice-captain under Cummins. In December, he led Australia in the second Ashes Test, with Cummins ruled out as a Covid close contact.

Whether Warner actually captains Australia or not, it is time for CA to acknowledge the error of 2018.