Categories: Cricket

U-turn on David Warner’s ban closes one chapter of ball tampering saga but questions remain | Martin Pegan

Cricket Australia’s backflip will help secure the former Test star’s legacy but a full explanation of the root cause of sandpaper-gate now appears even further away

The scrapping of David Warner’s lifetime captaincy ban six years after it was imposed closes one chapter on the ball-tampering scandal that rocked Australian cricket. But while the indefinite suspension has grown to seem unfairly onerous as time has passed, the latest decision is another step towards nailing the lid shut on what happened behind the scenes at Newlands and in the lead up to the controversy in 2018.

Warner’s ban from holding a leadership position in Australian cricket, at both national and state levels, was the last sanction still in place from the sandpaper-gate saga until Cricket Australia’s backflip was announced out of the blue on Friday. The lingering asterisk is now removed from next to Warner’s name but comes too late for his hopes of resuming a role as Australia vice-captain – or perhaps even a higher honour – following his international retirement this year. The “modification” to the long-term ban does however clear the path for the 37-year-old to captain Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League this summer, as well as Warner taking on off-field leadership roles in cricket in the future.

Source: Cricket - The Guardian