Shane Warne said that reducing the bans on Steve Smith and David Warner just because Australian cricket is struggling for results would not have been the right decision.
Cricket Australia on Tuesday upheld the year-long ball-tampering bans handed to Smith, Warner and Cameron Bancroft and Warne slammed Australian Cricketers’ Association president Greg Dyer for trying to reduce the suspensions.
“I think once the bans were in place, even though I thought they were too harsh at the time, you can’t overrule them,” Warne said.
“I was disappointed Greg Dyer and the Players’ Association even did that, unfortunately.
“You can’t overturn them because Australia’s cricketers are playing so badly,” he said.
Smith and Warner, then Australia’s captain and vice-captain, were banned from state and international cricket for 12 months over the incident in South Africa in March, while Bancroft was suspended for nine months.
There has been pressure on the governing body to reinstate the players amid a recent poor run of results.
The scandal, which rocked the sport, had far-reaching consequences in Australia with a clean-out of top executives from CA after a scathing review blamed its culture as partly contributing to players bending the rules.
The Australian Cricketers’ Association argued that the blame attributed to CA by the independent review was grounds to have the bans lifted.
Warne also called for replacing under-fire batting coach Graeme Hick with one of former Aussie batsmen.
Warne was critical of Hick, under whom, Australia have lost their last 18 of the 24 matches in all formats, including the loss to South Africa in the one-off Twenty20 on Saturday.
“It’s time for a change,” Warne was quoted as saying in the Sydney Morning Herald.
“The one thing I would say is ... Australian cricket over the last 25-30 years has had some terrific batsmen.
“Graeme Hick has been there for the last few years and seen that the players are making the same mistakes all the time; it’s time for a change,” he added.
Warne believes one of the former Australian greats can do justice to the job.
“Whether it be Mark Waugh, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Mike Hussey ... I’m sure any of those guys could do it,” Warne said.
“We’ve had great cricketers for the past 25 years and they [should] be around the cricket team more often. Get Glenn McGrath with the bowlers ... there are so many opportunities.”
(With PTI and AFP inputs)
