Steve Smith has come in support of veteran opener David Warner on his captaincy ban fiasco with Cricket Australia. Warner recently withdrew from an Australia captaincy ban review and slammed the independent panel who according to him wanted to conduct a public trail of the process that would have a negative impact on his family.
Cricket Australia imposed a lifetime leadership ban on Warner following his role in the 2018 ball-tampering scandal.
“From my point of view, banning someone for life from leadership is just fundamentally wrong,” Smith told reporters on Sunday afternoon after Australia beat West India in the second Test.
After the ball-tampering scandal, both Smith and Warner were banned for a year to play for Australia but there was a huge difference in the leadership ban. A two-year leadership ban was slapped on Smith while it was a lifetime for Warner.
“David served his time like 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,” he said.
