David Warner may now ask for the upliftment of the lifetime ban from leadership roles, given that the latest amendment in the Code of Conduct has been brought on by Cricket Australia.
“Any applications will be considered by a three-person review panel, comprising independent Code of Conduct Commissioners,” CA said in a statement. “(They) must be satisfied that exceptional circumstances exist to justify modifying a sanction.”
Previously, the players and officials were not allowed to appeal once they were slapped with sanctions of any kind. However, as per the new rule, they can now appeal for ease in punishment. Warner, who is eager to lead Australia in the next year’s ODI World Cup, may succeed Aaron Finch.
“These circumstances and considerations will include whether the subject of the sanction has demonstrated genuine remorse,” the statement added. “The subject’s conduct and behavior since the imposition of the sanction.”
Warner was handed a one-year ban from all cricketing activities and a lifetime ban from holding any leadership position for his involvement in the ball-tampering scandal in 2018. Recently, Faf du Plessis, who was the opposing captain in that infamous Newlands match, talked about the incident, and called Warner a “bully”.
After Finch’s retirement, Australia is bereft of a permanent ODI captain. Pat Cummins, the current Test skipper, doesn’t want the burden of captaincy in different formats and is happy to share the workload with other names. In the ongoing ODI series versus England, Josh Hazlewood is leading the team in the absence of Cummins.
Even the T20I captaincy will be up for grabs in the upcoming months, as Aaron Finch is set to retire soon. Warner didn’t have a great run in the recently concluded T20 World Cup, but he seems to be ahead of others in the captaincy race.
He has recently signed up a two-year contract with Sydney Thunder. If his appeal for leadership bans removal is accepted by the CA, he may soon be seen leading the Thunder in Big Bash League 2021. Warner has also hinted at retiring from Test cricket after the upcoming Ashes series in England.
Lead Image: Cricket Australia
