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David Warner’s manager James Erskine has lashed out at Cricket Australia for the decision to ban the cricket star from a leadership role for life after his involvement in the sandpaper scandal in 2018.
Warner has this week withdrawn an appeal against the decision following a change in CA’s policies.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Warner said he would not be appealing the decision as he believed a public hearing would impact his family’s well-being.
“They want to conduct a public spectacle to, in the panel’s words, have a “cleansing”. I am not prepared for my family to be the washing machine for cricket’s dirty laundry,” Warner said.
Speaking to SEN radio, Erskine defended Warner’s actions and talked about the issues his family faced since Sandpapergate.
“I think he’s fed up with the process, the trauma (from) that the original decision in South Africa, to his family and Candice (Warner’s wife), she lost a baby because of it,” Erskine said
Candice Warner and David Warner. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
“I think it’s odd, I don’t quite understand the process myself… of course, they (Cricket Australia) want this open court on the appeal.
“When you get banned for life with no appeal, I don’t think that can be legal, you can murder 25 people and get an appeal, and go have a second trial.
“The Prime Minister came out (at the time), (Malcolm) Turnbull came out and said this is a disgrace and whatever, I think he regrets those comments now, Cricket Australia had the whole process, the (Iain) Roy report was done in four days.
“You’d have to be a blind black Labrador, there was far more than three people involved in this thing, they all got a canning and David Warner was completely villainized.
“He has shut up, he protected Cricket Australia, he protected his fellow players on my advice, because at the end of the day no one wanted to hear any more of it and he’s got on playing cricket.
“Why Cricket Australia couldn’t have done a very sensible thing and said listen, it’s not legal that someone doesn’t have a right of appeal.
“It’s just absurd, why should he have to go through that, he has done everything he possibly could for Cricket Australia and for his team, and now he’s being treated like this… this is injustice at its greatest level.”
The Warner PR machine was in full force on Thursday as Candice also hit the airwaves – on Triple M.
“We’ve lived with this pain, through this pain since 2018,” she said. “And it gets to a point where enough is enough.
“Dave’s statement was very powerful and it had to be.
“There’s more important things than cricket and (David) is fiercely protective of his family and he just couldn’t … there are more important things than cricket and that’s the bottom line.
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“We have been through hell.
“To put our family, also his teammates through everything again and the disappointing thing for David is this has been dragged out for so long.
“Everything first kicked off in February and it’s now December and still no decision.”
Candice Warner added that it had been “incredibly intense” for the family since 2018.
“We live it day to day, that pain doesn’t go away,” Candice Warner said.
David Warner. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
“It is still raw, we go to the cricket so often to watch David play and there is always people yelling things out in the crowd, or at my daughters who proudly wear their dad’s T-shirt with their father’s name on the back.
“The fact my daughters have to cop abuse because of incidents that happened in the past is not fair.
“My husband David, he always puts family first, he’s fiercely protective of myself and our three girls.
“Cricket is not everything, cricket is what he does, but cricket does not define him and the person he is, the fact there was a lack of player welfare and no welfare about David and our family speaks volumes.”
“I don’t know if it’s fair to make David Warner the complete scapegoat and say right, everyone else can go back to normal,” Clarke said on Sky Sports Radio.
“We’ll forgive you but we won’t forgive Davey. I’m still unsure if any of them should be involved in a leadership role.
“I think it’s a tough one for Davey to swallow, rules in place for him and not for the others.”
Clarke said he still believed the punishments handed down out of the ball-tampering saga were unfair against Warner, who was not captain at the time.
“I see it as very inconsistent,” Clarke said.
“I find it very hard to believe it’s okay for one but not okay for the other to have a leadership role.
“If Cricket Australia decided that all the guys involved in South Africa, none would play a leadership role, that’s a fair call.
“But if it’s okay for Smithy, then it has to be okay for Bancroft and Warner.
“This is the last thing cricket needed.”
He also received strong support from former Test wicketkeeper Ian Healy, who said on SEN Radio on Thursday morning that “he has saved cricket here”.
Healy said there was no reason for Warner’s appeal hearing to be done in a public forum.
“He has saved cricket here,” he said. “That panel were going to air cricket’s problems. Why would they do that? Every other aspect of their negotiations, with the Australian Cricketers Association for example, are endeavouring to stay behind closed doors.
“Get the job done, no matter what it takes, behind closed doors.
“I agree with David Warner that it doesn’t need to be in public.
“The independent panel have decided the whole trial needs to be public. It seemed to be a trial of Warner’s crime again. The smallish crime of attempting to scratch a cricket ball, (but) it was supposed to be about the punishment, and they wanted to go through everything again, in public. Come on.”
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