Allan Border Calls For End To David Warner's Lifetime Ban On Leadership Role

Legendary Australian player Allan Border has asked for senior Australian player David Warner’s lifetime leadership ban to be lifted, asserting that the ball-tampering practice was a regular occurrence but rarely came into the spotlight. 

Warner was the architect behind the infamous ball-tampering scandal during the third Test in Cape Town against South Africa in 2018. Warner along with the then Australia skipper Steve Smith was suspended to play cricket for Australia for a year. Australian opener Cameron Bancroft, who executed the plan, was banned for nine months but his return to the national team was limited to a couple of Tests. 

It was a harsh penalty in the first place: Allan Border on David Warner and Steve Smith’s one-year ban

Warner, who has led Australia in nine T20Is, was imposed with a lifetime ban from holding any leadership role within Australian cricket for his involvement in the ball-tampering saga. Warner led Australia in nine T20 Internationals and won eight of those matches.

“It was a harsh penalty in the first place … let’s get on with it; they’ve served their time,” Border was quoted as saying by The West Australian. 

“I know that every other side’s doing exactly what we were caught doing. (If) all the captains put their hand on their heart and say ‘I wasn’t doing anything similar’, they’d be telling ‘porky pies’ (lies).

“The bans those boys copped were a bit over the top for the crime, given the knowledge around the cricket fraternity where this has been going on. They all had to change the way they went about their cricket,” he added. 

David Warner’s leadership roles post lifetime ban

After the lifetime ban on leadership, Warner led Winnipeg Hawks in the Global T20 Canada League in 2018 and was reinstated as Sunsrisers Hyderabad captain ahead of IPL 2020. Owing to the strained relations between the franchise and the player, Warner was axed from the captaincy role and subsequently released from the team. Warner went back to his first IPL team Delhi Daredevils (now known as Delhi Capitals) in the IPL 2022. 

Also Read: Greg Chappell Believes That David Warner’s Leadership Ban Should Be Lifted