Couldn’t be happier that David Warner told Cricket Australia ‘“go and get stuffed”, remarks Ian Chappell

David Warner withdrew his request to overturn the ban on his captaincy for the national side and the move has triggered a debate around the conduct of Cricket Australia(CA). While pulling out of his request, Warner had stated that the review panel wanted him to go through the public lynching and that his family would be the “washing machine for cricket’s dirty laundry”. Michale Clarke had lashed out at CA after Warner’s move for their biased review of the leadership ban. 

Ian Chappell has become the latest name to come out in support of David Warner saying he took the right decision and CA protects their own interests and not players. 

“I couldn’t be happier that David Warner told Cricket Australia the equivalent of “go and get stuffed” when he went public about his decision to withdraw his request for a review of his captaincy ban,” Chappell wrote in a column for ESPNCricinfo.

“This indicated Warner – who had been advised by CA against a public outburst — didn’t trust the authorities to be mindful of his interests. It was a wise decision by Warner as CA is renowned for only protecting their own interests, not those of players. Young players should be thankful Warner has exposed CA’s tendencies for back-side protecting. They need to keep it in mind for the future.”

With the involvement of Cameron Bancroft, David Warner, and Steve Smith in the sandpaper scandal, they were handed respective bans from cricket in 2018 along with the leadership suspensions. Smith was banned for two years from the captaincy role while Warner was handed a lifetime ban from captaincy duties. Smith recently returned to captaincy duties when he lead the team against West Indies in the second Test while Warner is still struggling with the leadership ban. Chappell slammed the authorities for the way they tackled the situation. 

“In the lead-up to the events in South Africa and in the aftermath, CA has erred regularly because self-protection is a high priority for them,” he explained. 

“The lop-sided punishments, the botched integrity review in South Africa, and then the absurd decision to not allow an appeal by the Australian players – their list of failures goes on. No wonder Warner had a gut full, but he chose the right target to attack.”