David Warner would consider it “a privilege” to captain Australia in next year’s 50-over World Cup if the opportunity arose following the retirement of one-day captain Aaron Finch from the format.
Still under a lifetime leadership ban resulting from the Sandpapergate scandal in March 2018, Warner was heartened by Cricket Australia’s decision on Friday to commission a review of the code of conduct to allow for sentences to be commuted.
“I think it’s a privilege any time you get spoken about in those kinds of roles,” Warner told the Herald and The Age on Sunday when asked about the possibility of becoming Australia’s 50-over captain. “So if the opportunity presented itself, I’d take it with open arms.”
Warner also said he was grateful for the vocal support he continues to receive from current and former Australia players, who endorse his leadership skills and, in some case, have urged CA to overturn his leadership ban.
“It’s awesome to get praises from your peers,” Warner said. “They’re the ones who spend the most time with me, they’re the ones who I play with, so to get comments like that means a lot.
“From my perspective, I see myself as a leader in the team anyway, so I do my ultimate best to make sure that everyone is going well, I do a lot of the social stuff, so I try and get everyone together, either having a beer or a feed together, whether it’s players or coaching staff.”
David Warner says he would accept the Australian 50-over captaincy “with open arms”.Credit:Getty
Test captain Pat Cummins is the latest teammate to praise Warner’s leadership credentials, saying that if Warner became Australia’s one-day captain “it certainly wouldn’t be an issue with the group”.
“I know that’s not an option at this stage [due to the ongoing leadership ban] but he’s a leader in our group. He always has been and always will be. He’s awesome.
“He’s someone in the Test side I lean on a lot. So if things change, I’m sure he would be someone that you strongly consider to step up if needed.
“Obviously, there’s a few barriers at the moment. But yeah, certainly, if they were removed, there wouldn’t be any qualms from any of us in the playing or coaching group that he’d be right up there and up for the task. He’d be awesome at it.”
Cummins said he’d consider leading the one-day side if the opportunity arose alongside being Test captain, but claimed he couldn’t do it on a regular basis because of his workload as a fast bowler across all three formats.
“There’s been a bit more talk about it but nothing is concrete and no decisions have been made yet. It’s something I’d be open to,” said Cummins.
“I think we’d probably need to look at it a little bit differently to perhaps in the past with so much cricket going on. If I was offered it, yeah, we’ll see.”
Despite the constant talk of a return to captaincy, Warner claimed his immediate focus was the Twenty20 World Cup, which begins next Saturday when Australia meet New Zealand at a sold-out SCG.
“They [Cricket Australia] have obviously come out and made a statement … so I’ll just have to go through that process, but it’s something that I want to put in the background, especially while I’m preparing for a World Cup,” said Warner.
The Cricket Australia board decided that if the review of the code results in a fresh clause allowing for a penalty to be appealed, the outcome would be subject to a hearing before an independent code of conduct commissioner, in front of whom Warner would plead his case.
“Obviously, what happened in 2018 happened,” Warner said “The only thing you can do from that is move on. I’ve tried to keep doing the same thing I’ve always done and that’s value myself and what I do as an Australian cricket player, and hold my standards very accountable, really high.”
Warner is in doubt for Australia’s T20 practice match against India at the Gabba on Monday, but expects to play in the first T20 World Cup match.
He suffered whiplash attempting to take a catch never the boundary in last Wednesday night’s second T20 match against England in Canberra and missed the third and final game on Friday.
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