David Warner in contention to lead Australia ODI team, captaincy ban may be revoked
Oct 13, 2022
Canberra [Australia], October 13 : Australian opener David Warner's captaincy ban after the 2018 ball-tampering scandal could be revoked by the Australian Cricket Board to hand him the captaincy of the ODI team.
According to Sky Sports, Warner is in contention for the ODI team's captaincy role after Aaron Finch retired from ODI cricket to leave the captain's post vacant.
Warner, 35, was given a one-year cricket ban and a captaincy ban by Cricket Australia for his involvement in the ball-tampering affair at Newlands in 2018.
Former and present players have called for Warner's suspension to be overturned so that he can be considered as Finch's replacement as captain.
In a board meeting on Friday, Cricket Australia (CA) will review its body integrity code, which will be the initial step in the removal of the captainship ban on Warner.
"The view within Cricket Australia is that David is doing particularly well on the field and making a great contribution. The first step in terms of David's leadership ban is to review the code and see if those sanctions are able to be reviewed. And the appropriate revisions to that code that would need to be made. It's not in anyone's interest for us to delay. It would be in time for any future leadership conversations in relation to David," said CA chair Lachlan Henderson as quoted by Sky Sports.
Warner gave up his right to a later review of the punishment when he accepted a sanction under the current integrity rule.
However, according to executive Nick Hockley, it's critical that the code acknowledges that sanctioned individuals could alter their behaviour.
"We are looking at sanctions to be reviewed for good behaviour and growth after a period of time. Pending the discussion, there would then need to be a revision of the code and that would need to be approved by the board," said Hockley.
Warner who is currently playing a T20 series against England had said it would be a privilege to lead the Australian ODI team if given the opportunity.
