Australia’s replacement skipper Steve Smith called David Warner’s lifetime leadership ban “fundamentally wrong” and hopes the star opener regains his form after a week of “distraction” in which he gave up his captaincy ambitions for good. Warner on Wednesday withdrew the bid to have his lifetime captaincy ban overturned, saying the review panel wanted him “publicly lynched” and that he is unwilling to let his family be the “washing machine for cricket’s dirty laundry”.
Warner and Smith were both handed one-year suspensions after Cameron Bancroft was caught applying sandpaper to the ball during a test match in South Africa in 2018.
While Smith was banned from holding a leading position in Australian cricket for two years, Warner was handed a lifetime ban. Bancroft was banned from the captaincy for 12 months.
“From my point of view, a lifetime leadership ban is just fundamentally wrong,” said Smith, who led Australia in the absence of an injured Pat Cummins and led the team to a 419-run win against the West Indies here.
“David has served his time, just like I have. For us, we know he is a leader in the group, and he does a fantastic job on and off the field.
“It’s been a tough week for him, it’s been a tough week. No doubt it’s been more of a distraction for Davey, who was going through that himself.
“David has said he’s done and dusted off and going on. He has our full support. Hopefully with the bat he can have a really big run for us against South Africa.” Warner undergoes a meager patch in the longest format with his last four scores reading 21 and 28 (Second Test in Adelaide) and 5 and 48 (First Test in Perth).
Over the past two years, Warner has averaged just 28.12 without a century.
The southpaw opener will play his 100th test against South Africa in Melbourne at the end of this month, but his lack of form has jeopardized his place for upcoming tours of India and England.
“Davey is a once-in-a-generation player, he’s arguably the best ever opener for Australia. The way he can put pressure on bowlers from the start helps everyone down too,” said Smith.
“He’s been an incredible player for a long time, his record suggests that. There’s no reason why he can’t have a big run for us this week too. He’s hitting well.
“He hasn’t been very lucky lately either, it seems like every time he gets an inside edge it ends up on the stumps. When you score points you often need some luck.
“For me it’s in his body language the way he goes out – he’s really positive and just in a good frame of mind. Especially yesterday when he went to hit he was in a good frame of mind, the way his feet moved.” was really sharp,” he added.
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