Ban helped me grow, says Warner

DHAKA: Disgraced Australian cricketer David Warner said Thursday that his one-year suspension for ball-tampering allowed him to “grow as a human being” and spend more time with family.

“Life has been good for me. I have been spending time with the family. I wouldn’t be able to do that if I wasn’t sitting in the sidelines,” Warner told reporters in Dhaka after he was unveiled as captain of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) franchise Sylhet Sixers.

The former Test vice-captain of Australia is currently serving a 12-month ban from international and state cricket for his role in a ball-tampering scandal during the third Test in South Africa in March last year. He was blamed as the instigator of an incident in which fielder Cameron Bancroft attempted to alter the ball with a piece of yellow sandpaper. Warner and Steve Smith, the then captain of the Australia team, were sent home in disgrace.