'There was no official helping him' - David Warner's wife accuses Cricket Australia of trying to ‘wipe’ husband out of national team

Candice Warner has blamed Cricket Australia (CA) for trying to 'wipe' her husband, David Warner, out of the national team following the Sandpaper-gate scandal. The Australian opener was banned by CA from any leadership roles over his involvement in the ball-tampering incident in Cape Town in 2018.

The then Test vice-captain Warner and former Australia skipper Steve Smith asked batter, Cameron Bancroft, to tamper with the ball using a piece of sandpaper during the third Test match against South Africa. Following this, Bancroft was subsequently suspended from the game for nine months, while Warner and Smith were banned for one year. Smith was banned from any leadership role for two years, while Warner received a lifetime ban.

While speaking in The Matty Johns Podcast, Candice Warner said that Cricket Australia didn't support David when they left the hotel in South Africa.  

'There was no support. Basically from when we left the hotel in South Africa, David was wiped. There was no Cricket Australia official helping him. There was nothing. It’s like: 'Basically you fend for yourself now'. It was basically fended for yourself, see you later. Thanks for your services probably, we’re going to do our best for you not to ever come back and play cricket for our country again. We’re going to blame you for everything. And that’s what they did," Candice Warner said. 

Banning someone for life from leadership is just fundamentally wrong: Smith

Cricket Australia then amended its code of conduct to allow the Australian opener to request a review of the sanction. Meanwhile, after a month, the independent panel of code-of-conduct commissioners told both that they were holding the firm. Warner later withdrew his appeal against the leadership ban, accusing the Review Panel of attempting a "public lynching." 

After Warner withdrew his appeal, Smith stated the punishment his teammate received was 'fundamentally incorrect'. He said that Warner is a leader on and off the field and always does his job brilliantly.

"From my point of view, banning someone for life from leadership is just fundamentally wrong. David’s served his time like I did. We know he’s a leader around the group and on and off the field is doing a tremendous job," Smith said.