Add Category
Cricket Australia looks set to lift David Warner's lifetime leadership ban after it changed its rules at a Friday board meeting.
- Cricket Australia has voted to allow appeals to previously applied sanctions
- As a result, David Warner is expected to appeal his lifetime leadership ban
- Warner could be in line to captain Australia's ODI team and Sydney Thunder in the BBL
Warner was banned from holding any leadership position for the remainder of his career for his role in the Newlands sandpaper scandal in 2018.
He was banned for life under Cricket Australia's code of conduct. Former captain Steve Smith was also banned from leading any teams for one year and has since been named vice-captain of the test side.
Cricket Australia's board on Friday asked its head of integrity to amend the code of conduct for consideration.
The amendment would allow a person to request a review of a penalty after what it calls "an appropriate period of time".
In a statement, CA said: "The onus would be on the applicant to prove they had undergone genuine reform relevant to the offence they were sanctioned for."
The statement said any review would be heard by an Independent Code of Conduct Commission.
Under the present code, players can not appeal a sanction.
CA chairman Lachlan Henderson strongly hinted on Thursday he was predisposed to allowing Warner to captain.
"The view within Cricket Australia is that David's doing particularly well on the field and making a great contribution off the field," Henderson said.
"I think the first step is to review the code because that applies for all sanctions, not just in relation to David Warner.
"We also need to be aware that players and those subject to sanctions can change, can do very well in the future and we'd like to think that we need to adopt the principle of fairness as we look at David's situation particularly," he said.
Warner has had heavyweight backing to take on captaincy positions, with retiring one-day captain Aaron Finch and Test captain Pat Cummins both backing him to take on future leadership roles as a captain or coach.
"Fundamentally, banning someone for life I disagree with," Cummins said in June.
"He [Warner] is a fantastic leader around our squad here. If he has a formal role, he'd be fantastic with that as well, so if that ever came up, he'd be great," Cummins said.
Warner's most likely captaincy positions would come with his Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League or with the national ODI side.
Others in the running for the national honours include Cummins, Smith and current vice-captain and wicketkeeper Alex Carey.
Australia next plays a one-day series in November against England after the T20 World Cup.
Andrew Gilchrist, head of Sydney Thunder, said the club had not appointed a captain yet.
"If he is available to be a captain, well he's going to be considered along with everyone else in the team," Gilchrist said.