David Warner has unleashed on the evaluation panel in control of his bid to overturn a lifetime management ban after dropping a bombshell determination on the eve of the second check in Adelaide.
The left-hand opener declared the method to overturn his lifetime ban a “media circus” designed to “humiliate” him and his household by doing a public blow-by-blow evaluation of the notorious sandpaper gate scandal in Cape Town in 2018.
Warner was labelled the mastermind of an Australian plot to get the ball reverse swinging in South Africa through the use of sandpaper on one aspect of the ball.
Cameron Bancroft was caught on digital camera within the Newlands check by the host broadcaster hiding the paper in his underwear and later served a ban alongside Warner and then-captain Steve Smith.
Warner submitted to have his ban lifted to pursue captaincy alternatives at worldwide and home ranges and was decided to show he had learnt from and altered after the incident.
However, the firebrand opener revealed on Wednesday he had dropped the pursuit to guard his household and teammates.
“I hoped I would be given the opportunity, under the established practise and procedure of the Code of Conduct that is reflected in the amendments, to demonstrate that I have satisfied the necessary requirements for a modification to my ban and that I might be permitted to see out the balance of my career without the yoke hanging around my neck and further anguish for my family,” Warner wrote in a press release posted to Instagram.
“However, despite my opposition and that of Cricket Australia, on Tuesday last week Counsel Assisting the Review Panel took it upon themselves to concoct an irregular procedure (overturning presumptions and previous practise) for the determination of my application and establish a novel approach that would negatively impact the health and welfare of my family and the interests of the Australian cricket team.”
Warner described the proposed process as a “public trial” of his actions within the Newlands check and stated it could simply be a “spectacle”.
“I am not prepared for my family to be the washing machine for cricket’s dirty laundry,” he stated.
“Counsel Assisting the Review Panel appeared to be determined to revisit the events of March 2018 and the Review Panel appears determined to expose me and my family to further humiliation and harm by conducting a media circus.
“Regrettably, I have no practical alternative at this point in time but to withdraw my application.
“I am not prepared to subject my family or my teammates to further trauma and disruption by accepting a departure from the way in which my application should be dealt with pursuant to the Code of Conduct.
“Some things are more important than cricket.”
South Africa are additionally within the nation for a three-test sequence that begins on the Gabba on December 17.
