“Warner Relieved from Sandpaper-gate Scrutiny in Retirement”,Australia’s long-serving opener David Warner says he is looking forward to avoiding “flak” about the Newlands ball-tampering scandal when he retires after the T20 World Cup.
Cricket Australia’s investigation into “Sandpaper-gate” in 2018 painted Warner as the chief orchestrator, though former test captain Steve Smith and opener Cameron Bancroft were also given lengthy bans for their involvement.
Warner was the only one of the three to be given a life-long ban from holding leadership roles in Australia’s international teams and gave up a bid to overturn it in late-2022.
“Whether it’s people who don’t like the Australian cricket team or don’t like me, I’ve always been that person who has copped it.
“It’s fine if they want to do that, but I always feel like I’ve taken a lot of pressure off a lot of guys as well and I think understandably I’ve been that person to be able to absorb that.
Warner has already quit test and one-day cricket and will bow out of T20Is at the end of the ongoing World Cup in the United States and the Caribbean.
The lefthander said he would always be linked with the Newlands scandal but hoped he would also be remembered as a fast-scoring trailblazer among opening batters in test cricket.
“Someone who tried to follow in the footsteps of the openers before me and try and score runs at a great tempo and change test cricket in a way.”
