David Warner revealed he was mentally struggling during home Tests against West Indies.
Veteran Australian opener David Warner revealed on Saturday (December 24) that he really didn’t receive any support from Cricket Australia (CA) in his appeal against a lifetime leadership ban.
The former Test vice-captain gave up the fight during the Test series against the West Indies at home after the panel wanted a public hearing over his appeal against a lifetime leadership ban. Notably, Warner was handed a lifetime captaincy ban for his role in the ball-tampering scandal in 2018.
Well, ahead of the Boxing Day Test against South Africa at the MCG, Warner accused CA of lack of support while revealing how he struggled mentally during the Perth Test against the West Indies.
According to AFP, David Warner told reporters in Melbourne: “My mental health probably wasn’t where I needed to be at, to be 100 percent -- and that was challenging at the time.”
He added, “If I had my way, we would have had that (the review) all sorted. From the CA point of view, I didn’t really have any support. My teammates and the staff in our team were absolutely amazing, and my family and friends, so they really got me through that period.”
Warner further said that he could not understand why the process had taken 11 months. He added, “We reached out in February, so we have no idea how it went on this far, and only CA can answer that. They’ll probably give you the same thing they give everyone else -- they won’t really give an answer.”
The left-hander also revealed that he never considered pulling out of the West Indies series despite struggling mentally, but he is now in a much better space. He signed off by saying, “Yeah, my back’s up against the wall, but it’s in my DNA to keep being competitive, come out here with a smile on my face and take on whatever opposition we’re going to face.”