‘Dirty laundry’: Angry Warner rejects public hearing for captaincy ban

David Warner has made the bombshell decision to withdraw his application to challenge his lifetime leadership ban from Australian cricket, to avoid a public hearing on the events surrounding the Newlands scandal in 2018.

In a lengthy description of backroom arguments shared with The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald on Wednesday night, Warner explained how he had elected to withdraw on the basis that the “irregular” Cricket Australia process had been and would be traumatic for his family.

David Warner at Newlands in 2018, the scene of the third Test with big consequences.Credit: Getty Images

In essence, the preference of the review panel for a public hearing that would see the events of 2018 revisited - despite the preference of CA that the hearing also be private - has led to Warner’s angry and frustrated exit from the process.

CA’s integrity unit is led by Jacqui Partridge, and its panel of independent code of conduct commissioners is composed of Alan Sullivan, Robert Heath, Adrian Anderson, Jane Seawright and Leon Zwier. Anderson, a former AFL executive, led the review that brought about the formation of the integrity unit.

“Despite my opposition and that of Cricket Australia, on Tuesday last week Counsel Assisting the Review Panel and the Review Panel took it upon themselves to concoct an irregular procedure (overturning presumptions and previous practice) 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 said in a statement.

“In his submissions, Counsel Assisting made offensive and unhelpful comments about me that had absolutely no substantive purpose under the Code of Conduct. Regrettably, the Review Panel acted contrary to the submissions of Cricket Australia and my lawyer and appeared to adopt virtually entirely the position of Counsel Assisting.

“In effect, Counsel Assisting, and, it appears, to some extent the Review Panel, want to conduct a public trial of me and what occurred during the Third Test at Newlands. 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. My family is more important to me than cricket.”

In discussing the consistent support of his family, Warner said that he had worked hard to rehabilitate after the Newlands scandal and move forward.

“Over the course of the past nearly five years since the events that occurred during the third Test in Cape Town, even with all the humiliation and attacks that they have had to endure, I have enjoyed the unwavering support and love of my wife Candice and my three daughters, Ivy Mae, Indi Rae, and Isla Rose. They are my world.

“Since that Test and even though my ban from leadership roles may never be lifted, I have taken it upon myself to reform, to rehabilitate and to transform my approach to the game. I have served and been subject to a crushing, unprecedented, penalty that has horribly impacted me and my family for the past nearly five years – without the prospect of any relief until now.”

After inquiries by the Australian Cricketers Association and a formal request from the Sydney Thunder, the Cricket Australia board announced a review of its code of conduct, followed by a rewrite to allow for an appeal panel hearing to allow for “parole” of long-term penalties.

“With the announcement of the amendment to the Code of Conduct, I held the hope and was encouraged, that I would be given a proper opportunity to demonstrate to the Review Panel that I have demonstrated my deep regret and remorse; and that my rehabilitation and
transformation are profound.

“With the encouragement of administrators and colleagues and in accordance with the rules under the Code of Conduct, on 25 November 2022 I submitted an application to Cricket Australia for a modification to my lifetime ban from leadership positions in cricket. I did so in good faith on the understanding that regular established procedures under the Code of Conduct would be followed.

“I hoped I would be given the opportunity, under the established practice 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.”

However, Warner explained that the approach taken by the legal counsel assisting the panel of independent commissioners seemed focused on re-prosecuting the 2018 scandal itself, rather than focusing on how the opener had rehabilitated.

“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,” he said.

“I note that the engagement of Counsel Assisting was terminated. Nonetheless, following the curiously irregular position adopted by the Review Panel, and in the interests of my family and Australian cricket, last Thursday I submitted a request for the Review Panel to revisit their procedural decision and at least apply a protocol that is consistent with established practice and procedure under the Code of Conduct. That request had the support of Cricket Australia.

“Having had nearly a week to consider that proposal, today the Review Panel has decided to ignore the request in any meaningful way and has provided a dismissive rejection of the substantive matters. It appears that the Panel has given no more than passing consideration to issues of player welfare and the interests of Australian cricket and is instead determined to conduct a public lynching.

“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.”

Cricket Australia confirmed it had supported Warner’s wish that the leadership ban hearing was made private.

“We are disappointed with this outcome as our intention was to give David the opportunity to demonstrate why his lifetime leadership ban should be varied at an independent hearing and we amended our Code of Conduct accordingly,” a spokesperson said.

“We supported David’s wish for these discussions to be heard behind closed doors and respect his decision to withdraw his application. David is a very senior and highly regarded member of the Australian team who has been a great ambassador for the game as a whole since his return from a year-long ban.”

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