CA chief defends Warner review panel as 'best practice'

Cricket Australia chief executive officer Nick Hockley has expressed his disappointment that David Warner has withdrawn his bid to overturn his lifetime leadership ban, but sought to clarify debate in the wake of Warner's explosive statement earlier this week.

Warner sensationally withdrew from the independent review of his captaincy ban – imposed by CA's board in the wake of the 2018 sandpaper incident in South Africa – claiming the panel's refusal to grant his and CA's request for the hearing to be held in private amounted to "a public lynching".

Hockley today confirmed CA had supported Warner's submission for the matter to be dealt with privately, but added the three-person panel enlisted to rule on the matter believed a select group of accredited journalists should also be party to the hearing.

Hockley said Warner was advised he could apply to the panel to have elements of the material presented heard in-camera as the review progressed, with the panel empowered to make that judgement in-line with transparency provisions relating to best practice in sports integrity matters.

"We felt that it was appropriate it was in private, and we made that application to the commissioners," Hockley told reporters during the second NRMA Insurance Test in Adelaide today.

Image Id: 9C4CC25042554024B6E41DC5447275DA Image Caption: Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley // Getty

"In coming back, they didn't rule out the fact that elements could be in private, but they wanted that to be on application at the time, in light of what was being discussed.

"Because independence and transparency is in line with best practice, and there's a huge amount of public interest in this, the commissioners felt it was appropriate in these circumstances for there to be a level of transparency.

"The sports world globally is under the microscope around their integrity processes.

"I make no apology for the fact we've engaged with the best people, that we've got best-in-class governance and that we run a proper, fair, independent process … that's in line with best practice, including the mandatory standards of Sports Integrity Australia."

In a lengthy statement posted on social media two days before the current Test started, Warner claimed he was left with no alternative but to abandon his case to have the ban imposed on him captaining at international, state and BBL level overturned because the panel wanted to push ahead with an open hearing.

"To some extent the Review Panel, want to conduct a public trial of me and what occurred during the Third Test at Newlands," Warner wrote on Tuesday.

"They want to conduct a public spectacle to, in the panel's words, have a "cleansing".

"I am not prepared for my family to be the washing machine for cricket's dirty laundry."

However, Hockley was at pains to point out the review process – which was instituted after CA amended its Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel at October's annual general meeting – was never designed to re-examine events from South Africa in 2018.

"It was purely around the behaviour since (2018) and about whether there's been remorse and remediation to modify the sanction," Hockley said, adding the hearing's timing was designed to provide resolution in time for BBL|12.

"And secondly it is about doing so in a way that's in line with best practice from a governance perspective where procedural fairness is number one.

"David has chosen not to proceed with that process, but it's for very eminent experts in procedural fairness to put forward what they think is appropriate.

"I am disappointed that David has chosen to withdraw.

"This is not the outcome we wanted, and the fact it has become such a public thing is entirely contrary to what we were hoping to achieve."

Todd Greenberg, chief executive officer of the ACA, said today he didn't believe the dramatic conclusion to the review of Warner's leadership ban, which the union had pursued on the opener's behalf, would see Warner walk away from cricket.

However, he described the process which led to Warner sensationally withdrawing from the bid as "wretchedly unfair" and noted he saw no circumstances under which the review process could be salvaged.

"I don't think anyone, let alone Dave and his family, has an appetite to drag this out more than already has," Greenberg told SEN today.

"So I think there's a clear full stop on the end of this one.

"I think it would be a fair understatement for me to say we're not unbelievably frustrated, not just for David and his family, but also for his teammates.

"They were really annoyed that this process has been allowed to drag into middle of the Test summer, that's something that's frustrated a lot of us.

"Ultimately governing bodies are designed to govern, and my view is the moment it was outsourced to this independent panel control was lost, and thus we've ended up in the position that we sit here today.

"For David to be forced into a position on the eve of a Test match I don't think serves him well, his family well, it certainly doesn't serve the team well and I would suggest it doesn't serve Australian cricket well.

"I see this as a significantly missed opportunity for the game, a missed opportunity and a really significantly (missed) opportunity for the BBL."

Greenberg added that while any decision to remove Warner's leadership ban would clearly have delivered immediate benefits for the 36-year-old veteran who is currently playing his 98th Test, the reason for pursuing it extended beyond the former Test vice-captain's personal circumstances.

"It's actually never been about him," Greenberg said.

"It was about using his experiences in the game to help and shape others.

"People can learn significantly from his experiences, and in the ACA's view continuing the leadership ban ignores the ability of human beings to learn from mistakes and make changes, and it denies Australian cricket the opportunity to benefit from his experience.

"So I think while Dave's name is front and centre of all these things, the basis of our submission, the basis of this whole concept of leadership is about his ability to give back to Australian cricket."

Men's NRMA Insurance Test Series v West Indies

First Test: Australia won by 164 runs

Dec 8-12: Second Test, Adelaide Oval, 3pm AEDT (day-night)

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Michael Neser, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner

West Indies squad: Kraigg Brathwaite (c), Jermaine Blackwood, Nkrumah Bonner, Shamarh Brooks, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Roston Chase, Joshua Da Silva, Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph, Kyle Mayers, Marquino Mindley, Anderson Phillip, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales, Devon Thomas

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