Australian cricket legend Allan Border says David Warner should no longer be banned from leadership roles
Believing ball tampering is a common occurrence in world cricket, an Australian cricket legend says David Warner should no longer be banned from leadership roles.
Allan Border has called for David Warner’s lifetime leadership ban to be lifted, claiming ball tampering was rife in cricket worldwide.
Warner continues to be punished for his role in the sandpaper scandal which rocked Australian cricket during a 2018 tour to South Africa.
While former Test skipper Steve Smith, who was also punished over the incident, had his leadership ban lifted two years after the incident, Warner’s lifetime leadership suspension remains intact, despite recent suggestions CA might be considering a change of heart.
Cricket legend and former Australian captain Border wants Warner’s leadership ban dissolved, saying the 35-year-old New South Welshman has “paid his penance” for an action which is common in all forms of cricket.
“It was a harsh penalty in the first place … let’s get on with it; they’ve served their time,” Border said.
“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.”
Border suggested “natural” ball tampering, as opposed to using bottle tops and sandpaper, was needed to help bowlers dismiss batsmen on flat pitches.
“Reverse swing is a huge weapon to have at your disposal. On the flattest of wickets, you can still get people out,” he said.
“There’s one line of thought that you’re not allowed to touch the ball, but there’s also the school of thought that you should allowed, if you get the ball in your hand … just scratching the ball and working on it over a period of time, and you get the ball reverse swinging … what's wrong with that?
“It’s not a bad idea because on flat wickets you need something, otherwise the scores are just going to blow out, and that’s what happens now when we start preparing result wickets, because it’s very hard to get good players out on very flat tracks.”
Border was speaking on Monday at the ground named after him as part of Queensland Cricket Foundation’s Buy A Picket campaign.
Cricket fans can have their names emblazoned on a picket at the redeveloped Allan Border Field.
Powderfinger lead singer and Australian music icon Bernard Fanning paid $5000 to have his name of the same picket as Border’s.
“Allan Border remains one of my heroes as a man of great skill, resilience, courage and humility,” Fanning said.
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