Vice-captain and ex-captain of the Australian Test squad Steve Smith has criticized David Warner‘s lifetime suspension from team leadership as “fundamentally wrong,” arguing that Warner received the same penalty as he did.
In 2018, a ball-tampering incident occurred during a Test match in Cape Town, South Africa, involving many players, including Smith, Warner, and Cameron Bancroft. When investigating, it seemed that David Warner had pushed Cameron Bancroft to use sandpaper to alter the condition of the ball so that it would reverse swing.
Australia’s then captain, Smith, was aware of what was going on but did nothing to stop it; thus, both he and Warner were given one-year bans from all international cricket, while Bancroft received a nine-month suspension.
However, Warner was also permanently barred from ever again serving as a captain or vice-captain of the Australian team in any competition. When Pat Cummins replaced Tim Paine as captain of the Australian Test squad, Steve Smith was promoted to the position of vice-captain, further complicating matters.
Warner had just withdrawn an appeal to Cricket Australia to have his leadership suspension overturned after the panel convened to hear his appeal insisted on a public rather than a private probe.
Smith led Australia to a 419-run victory in the second Test against the West Indies in Adelaide, and he still maintains that Warner’s first suspension was unfair.
While Smith maintains the batter has the “full backing of everyone in the team,” he does admit the protracted drama has been “more of a distraction for Davey” than the rest of the team. Furthermore, he characterized Warner as a “once in a generation” talent.
“From my point of view, banning someone for life from leadership is just fundamentally wrong. David served his time as I did. For us, we know he’s a leader around the group, and on and off the field he’s doing a tremendous job. It’s been a difficult one for him, it’s been a difficult week. David has said he’s done and dusted (with the review) and wants to get on with it. He’s got our full support. Hopefully, he can have a really big series for us against South Africa with the bat,” Smith was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
