Warner, 36, who has given up on his ambitions to lead Australia, says the review panel wants him to suffer a ‘public lynching’ and he is not ready to let his family be the “cricket’s dirty linen washing machine”. .
Last month, Cricket Australia amended its player code of conduct policy, which paved the way for it to seek a review of the captaincy ban before a panel of three code of conduct commissioners.
Steve Smith is the latest player to win Warner’s backing after Ian Chappell and Michael Clarke claiming his teammate’s lifetime leadership ban was “fundamentally wrong”.
Warner and Smith were both given a one-year ban after Cameron Bancroft was caught applying sandpaper to the ball during a Test match in South Africa in 2018.
While Smith was banned from holding a managerial position in Australian cricket for two years, Warner was banned for life. Bancroft was banned from the captaincy for 12 months.
“From my perspective, banning leadership for life is just fundamentally wrong,” said Smith, who captained Australia in the absence of an injured Pat Cummins and guided the team to a 419 win. points against the West Indies here.
“David has served his time like me. For us, we know he is a leader in the group, and on and off the pitch he is doing a tremendous job.
“It’s been tough for him, it’s been a tough week. It’s definitely been a distraction for Davey, who’s been through this himself.
“David said he’s done and dusted off and he’s moving on. He has our full support. Hopefully he can have a really big run for us against South Africa with the bat.”
Warner is going through a period of leanness in the longer format with its last four scores, reading 21 and 28 (second test in Adelaide) and 5 and 48 (first test in Perth).
Over the past two years, Warner has only averaged 28.12 without a century.
The left-handed fly-half is set to play his 100th Test against South Africa in Melbourne at the end of the month, but his lack of form has put his place in jeopardy for upcoming tours of India and England.
“Davey is a once-in-a-generation player, he is arguably the best opener ever for Australia. The way he is able to put pressure on bowlers from the start also helps everyone in the game. order,” Smith said.
“He’s been an incredible player for a long time, his record suggests. There’s no reason he can’t have a great run for us this week as well. He’s hitting well.
“He hasn’t had much luck lately either, it seems like every time he gets an inside edge he goes over the stumps. Most of the time when you score runs you need to chance.
“For me, it’s in his body language that he goes there – he’s really positive and just in a good frame of mind. Especially yesterday when he came out at bat he was in a good state. of mind, the way his feet moved was really sharp,” he added.
(With PTI inputs)
