New Delhi, Nov 15 (IANS) David Warner's manager James Erskine has claimed that the former Australian vice-captain would not have signed his one-year ban in the Sandpapergate scandal had he known that bowlers Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood were interviewed as part of the investigation and that Warner has "proven that Cricket Australia withheld information".

As the Sandpapergate scandal re-emerges in the headlines, Warner recently claimed, "as far as I am aware", Hazlewood, Lyon, or Starc were not interviewed by CA during their investigation immediately after Sandpapergate. He later issued another statement clarifying his previous post when it was reported that the trio were interviewed.

A Sydney Morning Herald report stated that Hazlewood, Starc and Lyon were interviewed, following which Warner claimed that "he was never told the bowlers had been interviewed" when he signed his one-year ban.

As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, Warner's manager, Erskine, has hit out at CA as he put pressure on the board to release the report of the 2018 investigation conducted by Iain Roy, the then CA head of integrity.

It added that Erskine said on Sunday that Warner would not have signed the statement agreeing to his ban had he known that the trio were interviewed during the probe.

The manager also said that the former Aussie cricketer has asked to review the statements given to Roy. "The Roy report has never come out. Roy was basically muzzled, signed an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) and ended up leaving Cricket Australia," Erskine said as quoted by the Australian publication.

"When David was told these people had made statements, he was not told it included those bowlers (Lyon, Starc and Hazlewood).

"He has now proven without any hesitation that in 2018, Cricket Australia withheld information. They told him these were the only people that had been interviewed, but it wasn’t true. He was told in 2018 one was Pat Cummins, and the others were Smith, Bancroft and him," he added.

The manager added that Warner was unaware of what Cummins, Lyon, Hazlewood and Starc had said.

Taking to Instagram, Warner has hit out at CA over the last two days. On Saturday, he claimed he was unaware that the trio was being interviewed during the probe, which resulted in him and Steve Smith being handed a year-long ban each, while Cameron Bancroft was suspended for nine months.

"As far as I am aware, CA did not interview Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc or Nathan Lyon in their 2018 investigation. If that's correct, then how can CA push the idea that the bowlers didn't know?

"It looks like they had decided who they wanted to blame from the very beginning, ran a shoddy investigation to serve the purpose, and now they want to maintain the false narrative that the bowlers had no idea. That stinks of a cover-up," he had said on Saturday.

After it emerged that the trio had been interviewed, Warner stated that he had never been told of it and that CA did not provide evidence in 2018.

“Just to clarify, 'as far as I am aware' was the POINT. I was never told the bowlers had been interviewed or provided statements. That information would’ve been pretty useful when I was forced to make decisions in 2018. Why weren’t we given all the evidence by CA?” Warner wrote in his latest social media statement.

--IANS

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