Shane Watson on whether the lifetime Captaincy ban on David Warner be Lifted
Former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson has advocated for David Warner’s lifetime Captaincy ban to be lifted.
Warner was the mastermind behind the historic ball-tampering affair that occurred during the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town in 2018. He was banned from playing cricket for Australia for a year, along with then-captain Steve Smith.
For his role in the ball-tampering scandal, the left-handed hitter was also banned from holding any leadership position in Australian cricket for the rest of his life. Warner captained Australia in 9 T20 Internationals, winning 8 of them.
Warner captained the Winnipeg Hawks in the Global T20 Canada League in 2018 after being restored as Sunsrisers Hyderabad captain ahead of the IPL 2021 season. He was relieved of his captaincy and eventually removed from the squad due to deteriorated relationships between the franchise and the player.
Watson emphasized Warner’s right to captain Australia again, despite reservations over limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch’s poor batting record. Watson, who is also the president of the Australian Cricketers’ Association, believes it is absurd to keep Warner banned since he has learned from his errors.
“He’s done his sentence,” Watson told the Grade Cricketer. “This is my perspective, and I know it’s a huge opinion within Australian cricket in some places. He made a major error, but he’s been severely punished in so many ways.” He’s been utterly crushed across the board because of the way they put him out to dry and everything really came back on him, both financially and publicly.
“He’s served his sentence. Everybody makes errors. Some are more visible than others, and some are worse than others, but you can forgive them. I believe it’s crazy that if he’s the right guy at the right moment, he can’t lead a team, whether it’s a Big Bash squad or an Australian side.” He said, “I think it’s really ludicrous.”
According to a News Corp article, the matter is likely to be revisited with the goal of pushing Warner to captain a BBL team in his later years.
Warner is currently playing for the Delhi Capitals in the upcoming IPL 2022, where he has 427 runs in 11 innings with a strike rate of 151.96. He is the tournament’s fourth-highest run-scorer, after only Quintom de Kock (502) and KL Rahul (537). (627).
