David Warner’s manager, James Erskine, has unloaded on Cricket Australia for their handling of his client’s leadership ban and made shock claims about the 2018 ball tampering saga.
Warner released a statement on Instagram on Wednesday, revealing he has withdrawn from his attempts to overturn his leadership ban, accusing the review panel of trying to create a “public lynching”.
The 36-year-old also said he was “not prepared for my family to be the washing machine for cricket’s dirty laundry”.
Watch Australia v West Indies. Every test match live and ad-break in play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
Warner withdraws from ‘public lynching’ | 02:30
Erskine revealed he believes more players were involved in the ball tampering saga, and even said the public’s opinion of the events would change in the future.
“The thing about this is that David Warner is 35 years old and he’s got another 30 years of working. The one thing you want when you’ve been a major sportsman and given a lot of enjoyment to a lot of people, you want respect,” Erskine said.
“And you get respect by doing the right thing. David Warner, sure they didn’t do the right thing, but when the truth comes out, everyone’s going to turn around and say: ‘Well, why was David Warner picked upon?’
“I just think that Cricket Australia have made it so difficult. They’ve been sitting on the fence, they will have splinters in their arse. I mean, they have to have a symbiotic relationship in the future with their players. This master-slave relationship is just bloody bollocks.
Asked how the truth would come out if Warner didn’t write a book, Erskine said: “Oh the truth will come out, let me tell you”.
He also explained that two players even tried to get the whole Test team to admit their part in the tampering — going as far to suggest Cricket Australia officials heard the plans.
“There’s lots of people. There’s two cricketers who said at the time and put their hands up said: ‘Why don’t we all just tell the truth? They can’t fire all of us.’ That’s, that’s what’s happened,” Erskine said.
NEW FOLLOW-ON PODCAST – Ultimate test series preview; summer of Smudge?
Listen below or subscribe in Apple Podcasts or Spotify
“Two senior executives were in that changing room in Hobart and basically were berating the team for losing against South Africa – and Warner said that we’ve got to reverse swing the ball and the only way we can reverse swing the ball is basically by tampering with it – and so they were told to do it.
“I’m completely against it, I think tampering with balls is a joke, but it has gone on for centuries. Everybody has been fiddling around with balls and the penalty at the time by the ICC was a one-match ban.”
Erskine also spoke on the “trauma” Warner experienced after he was “completely villainized” following the Third Test at Newlands.
“I think he’s fed up with the process, the trauma (from) that the original decision in South Africa, to his family and Candice (Warner’s wife), she lost a baby because of it,” Erskine said on SEN 1170 Afternoons.
“I think it’s odd, I don’t quite understand the process myself… of course, they (Cricket Australia) want this open court on the appeal.
“When you get banned for life with no appeal, I don’t think that can be legal, you can murder 25 people and get an appeal, and go have a second trial.
Smith to captain as Cummins ruled out | 03:50
MORE CRICKET NEWS
SANGHA: How the ‘best since Ponting’ shouldered expectation to ‘ride the wave’
‘BEEN THROUGH HELL’: Tearful Candice Warner doubles down on statement
‘SCARED TO FACE HIM’: Inside bolter’s rapid rise and why he can ‘dominate’
BBL SIGNINGS: Thunder secure ‘highly respected’ WA star in red-hot form
“The Prime Minister came out (at the time), (Malcolm) Turnbull came out and said this is a disgrace and whatever, I think he regrets those comments now, Cricket Australia had the whole process, the (Iain) Roy report was done in four days.
“You’d have to be a blind black Labrador, there was far more than three people involved in this thing, they all got a canning and David Warner was completely villainized.”
Warner had originally planned to appeal his leadership ban after a change in Cricket Australia’s policy opened the avenue.
But after he was informed the Cricket Australia panel wanted public “cleansing” he withdraw from attempting to overturn the ban.
Erskine believes Warner should have the right to an appeal that isn’t a public spectacle after “he protected Cricket Australia”.
“He has shut up, he protected Cricket Australia, he protected his fellow players on my advice, because at the end of the day no one wanted to hear any more of it and he’s got on playing cricket,” Erskine said.
“Why Cricket Australia couldn’t have done a very sensible thing and said listen, it’s not legal that someone doesn’t have a right of appeal.
“It’s just absurd, why should he have to go through that, he has done everything he possibly could for Cricket Australia and for his team, and now he’s being treated like this… this is injustice at its greatest level.”
Windies confident for Day/Night Test | 00:52
Watch BBLI12. Every game live and ad-break free during play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
Warner’s wife, Candice, also revealed the constant abuse her family received after the ball tampering saga.
“It has been an incredibly intense, not just 12 months, but since March 2018, we live it day to day, that pain doesn’t go away,” Warner said speaking on Triple M’s Summer Breakfast Show.
“It is still raw, we go to the cricket so often to watch David play and there is always people yelling things out in the crowd, or at my daughters who proudly wear their dad’s T-shirt with their father’s name on the back.
“The fact my daughters have to cop abuse because of incidents that happened in the past is not fair.
“My husband David, he always puts family first, he’s fiercely protective of myself and our three girls.
“Cricket is not everything, cricket is what he does, but cricket does not define him and the person he is, the fact there was a lack of player welfare and no welfare about David and our family speaks volumes.”
