Todd Greenberg blames Cricket Australia as the Warner saga ‘loses control’

Cricket Australia chief Todd Greenberg said that David Warner was not left with any choice but to ditch his appeal for a leadership ban and also said that Cricket Australia had “lost control” of the situation. Warner withdrew his bid this week, overturning a lifetime captaincy ban imposed after the famous ball-tampering scandal against South Africa in 2018. 

The Australian opener said that he is concerned about the well-being of his family and the Australian team has to relive those traumatic times in the media glare. Greenberg said it should never have got to this point. 

“The moment Cricket Australia outsourced the review, in my view, they lost control of that process,” he told SEN sports radio.

“Why the panel decided the issue needed to be a public hearing after both CA and David agreed the matter be held privately is beyond me, and I think lacks a real level of common sense.

A public trial of me and what occurred during the Third Test at Newlands: David Warner

“The process became a long way removed from the one David agreed to participate in, that’s why I don’t think David had much choice to do what he did.” 

“Not just for David, for his teammates who I know are really annoyed around this process that was allowed to drag into the middle of the Test summer.” The ACA was “unbelievably frustrated,” Greenberg stated.

Warner was named the main culprit of this ‘Sandpapergate’ scandal, during a Cape Town test, having conspired with then-skipper Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft to illegally alter the surface of the ball. He was permanently barred from all leadership roles and handed a one-year playing suspension.

The former Australian vice-captain posted a lengthy statement on his social media account claiming that the independent panel had “offensive” comments during the process. He also claimed the panel wanted “a public trial of me and what occurred during the Third Test at Newlands” when the ball-tampering saga took place.