Smith on Warner: 'Banning someone from leadership for life is fundamentally wrong'
Giving up his appeal against the Australian captaincy ban, Warner slammed the review process and said that he is not prepared for his family to be the washing machine for cricket's dirty laundry. Warner's teammate and star batter Smith was asked about the epic saga of the veteran Australian opener following Australia's comfortable win over the West Indies in the 2nd Test at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday.
After guiding Australia to a 2-0 series win over the West Indies at home, stand-in skipper Steve Smith has come out in the support of teammate David Warner, who recently withdrew the bid to overturn his lifetime leadership ban in Australian cricket. One of the finest openers across all formats of the game, veteran batter Warner issued a lengthy statement about his leadership ban review on Wednesday.
Giving up his appeal against the Australian captaincy ban, Warner slammed the review process and said that he is not prepared for his family to be the washing machine for cricket's dirty laundry. Warner's teammate and star batter Smith was asked about the epic saga of the veteran Australian opener following Australia's comfortable win over the West Indies in the 2nd Test at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday.
"From my point of view, banning for life from leadership is just fundamentally wrong," Smith told reporters after Australia crushed the West Indies by 419 runs in the 2nd Test. "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," Smith added.
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Former Australian Test vice-captain Warner was banned from any leadership role due to his involvement in the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal in 2018. Warner also received a one-year playing suspension after the infamous ball-tampering scandal.
After playing a series of forgetful knocks against the West Indies, Warner will hope to regain some form in Australia's next assignment against South Africa. The 36-year-old will record his 100th Test appearance for Australia in Melbourne against the Proteas.
"It's been a difficult one for him, it's been a difficult week. It has been more of a distraction for Davey, no doubt, going through that himself. David has said he's done and dusted and 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 added.
