Will Warner replace Finch as Australia's new white-ball captain? Here's a crucial update
Will Warner replace Finch as Australia’s new white-ball captain? Here’s a crucial update
- Aaron Finch has retired from ODI cricket
- Ausralia are now looking for a new white-ball captain
- Warner was banned from any leadership role after the Sandpaper Gate
David Warner has revealed that it was not just the Sandpaper Gate in 2018 that might have led to his leadership ban from the Australian cricket board.
Australia's limited-overs captain Aaron Finch retired from ODI cricket recently, giving the national side enough time to choose a replacement keeping in mind the Cricket World Cup in 2023, which will be played in India.
With vice-captain Pat Cummins, who is also the Test captain, reportedly not wanting to take up an added workload to his workload, a few circles of Australian cricket have recommended Warner's name for the captain's position.
Warner, once a favourite to become the white-ball captain, fell down in the pecking order after the Sandpaper Gate 2018 during Australia's tour of South Africa.
"Unfortunately a lot of the events before 2018 were with the board. The MOU stuff [pay dispute] and all that There was a lot of stuff that was things got over and above in terms of more than the Cape Town stuff," Warner told reporters on Tuesday.
Post the incident in Cape Town, the Australian cricket board slapped then-skipper Steve Smith and his deputy Warner with a year's ban each from international and domestic cricket. While Smith was suspended from any leadership role for a year, Warner was banned from the same indefinitely.
"There was more to it. I think that's where my decision, the penalty that was handed down was more of stuff that was happening before that. I think at the end of the day it's about what questions do they [the board] want to ask me," Warner said.
David Warner: Any opportunity to captain Australia is a privilege
The explosive southpaw went on to add that he is very much interested in hearing what the new Australia Cricket Board has to say.
"That's where the conversation starts and then we can lead from there. It's almost a completely new board from when 2018 happened. I would be interested to see and hear what their thoughts are.
"But any opportunity you get asked to captain, it's a privilege. For my circumstances, that's in Cricket Australia's hands. I can only concentrate on what I have to do, and that's using the bat and scoring as many runs as I can," added Warner.
"My phone is here [if they want to talk]. At the end of the day what is done is done in the past. The good thing is there is a new board. I am always happy to sit down and have a chat and talk about whatever they need to talk about," the New South Wales cricketer said about his captaincy talks.
