Ian Chappell calls David Warner "too old" for captaincy role; sees no point in lifting leadership ban

According to former Australia captain Ian Chappell, left-handed opener David Warner is now too old to serve as the team's captain and should not have his lifelong leadership ban lifted.

"What would happen if Cricket Australia decided to lift Warner's suspension? Warner won't be named captain of any Australian squad, after all, are you? He's far too old."

According to Chappell, who was reported by Wide World of Sports, "And he's not going to be awarded the captaincy because the captain has to be young enough to be able to lead by example, and those days are gone for David."

Warner withdrew his request to lift the lifetime leadership ban last week, claiming the independent review panel sought to turn it into "a public lynching."

Chappell now believes Warner requested the lifting of his captaincy ban so that he may lead Sydney Thunder in the 2018 Big Bash League (BBL).

"David most likely desired control of his BBL team, the Sydney Thunder, in order to assist them. He has done it before, he has done it successfully, and he thinks very strongly about the game of cricket, so he would have made a great leader for them. He would therefore be effective in any leadership role he held."

In the 2018 Sandpaper Scandal in Cape Town, South Africa, Warner, Steve Smith, and Cameron Bancroft were charged with ball tampering. However, only Warner received a lifetime leadership ban, while Smith received a year-long ban and a further 12-month suspension in leadership roles, and Bancroft received a nine-month suspension.

In addition, Chappell criticised Cricket Australia (CA) for how it handled the situation surrounding Warner's suspension for leadership, charging the board with "not looking after players."

But once he understood that Cricket Australia was trying to take care of itself rather than him, he just replied, "No, I don't want to hear about that."

"He undoubtedly had other motives, but in my opinion, the fact that they don't take care of the athlete is the key one. The problem with it is the perception it gives the people."

"The general public has long believed that?

Cricket Australia isn't very good, and this is just another illustration of that—they handled the situation poorly from beginning to end."

"My point is that Cricket Australia will never do anything in the interest of the players or the player; they will only ever do anything to protect their own backside. That's what they were going to do with Warner's case. They've done it in every previous case, so I wasn't surprised...that's their whole reason for operating ?- to make sure that it doesn't come back to haunt them."