Warner as well as Steve Smith each received a two-year suspension for their involvement in the 2018 ball tampering incident. However, Warner was also subject to a leadership ban.

In November 2022, he appealed to have his suspension overturned after CA reviewed its code of conduct, which at the time stated that players could not review a sentence once it was accepted.

The 36-year-old player was scheduled to appear before a three-person independent panel, which he assumed would be closed.

The commission chose to hold the hearing in secret, to which Warner strongly objected and expressed this in a lengthy statement when he withdrew his appeal.

It was ridiculous, Warner told the Sydney Morning Herald.

I wanted to get this case over with and they kept dragging it out and not giving answers.

No one wanted to be responsible, no one wanted to make a decision. You have an administration that seems to lack leadership, he added.

They could have stopped it right away, but I got calls on the first, second, third day of test matches, I talked to lawyers, etc., when I didn’t need to.

I really felt disrespected in the sense that I couldn’t play quietly and focus on the game, he said.

So from that standpoint it wasn’t even like Oh, let’s stop and get back to it. It was nine months, the game was launched in February (2022). I was extremely disappointed, he added.