"We could’ve done this about nine months ago" - David Warner frustrated at Cricket Australia's process of amending code for his lifetime leadership ban

Veteran Australian opener David Warner has hit out at Cricket Australia (CA) for the time they have taken to amend the code for his lifetime leadership ban. The southpaw stated that he is not a 'criminal,' lamenting the slow process of the board's proceedings.

CA imposed a lifetime ban on Warner from captaining Australia as he was found to be the mastermind of the ball-tampering saga against South Africa in 2018. On Monday, November 21, the board amended the code, allowing the 36-year-old to challenge the sanctions to hold a leadership position.

Speaking to reporters after CA's announcement, David Warner expressed his frustration with the delayed process, claiming it could've been done a lot earlier.

He said (as quoted by Fox Sports):

"I’m not a criminal. It’s one of those challenging ones where I feel like it’s all about me now campaigning – that’s what it looks like and it’s totally not that. It’s frustrating because we could’ve done this about nine months ago when it was first brought up."

The New South Wales opener was one of the frontrunners to replace Aaron Finch as ODI skipper after the latter retired. However, right-arm speedster and Test captain Pat Cummins pipped him to the role.

---

"It's good to get in a position where we are now today" - David Warner

David Warner. (Image Credits: Getty)

While he was frustrated with the duration it took to get to this post, David Warner was pleased with getting a chance to present his case before the integrity unit. He hopes that his efforts are worth it, adding:

"It’s good to get in a position where we are now today and it gives me an opportunity to ring up the integrity unit to therefore have a word to them and put forward my case of the 100 hours of community service that I did in 2018 for what happened.

"All this good behaviour, stuff that I’ve done, I have to put forward so I’m happy to do that. I’ll have to wait and see in due course when my schedule fits to be able to do that. It’s been five years in the making. For me, I’ve done everything I’ve had to do possibly right."

On the pitch, Warner has been in decent nick in the ongoing ODI series against England. He scored 86 off 84 deliveries in the first game, though he could only manage 16 runs in the second match. Australia won both games to take an unassailable lead in the three-match series.