David Warner has hit out at Cricket Australia (CA) over his lifetime leadership ban, calling it "harsh" and describing the process as "traumatic".
Warner's comments come after it was announced that CA had altered their code of conduct, allowing the 36-year-old to appeal the ban that was handed to him in 2018 as a result of the ball tampering scandal.
A CA statement said any appeals would have to show that "exceptional circumstances exist to justify modifying a sanction", including whether a player has shown genuine remorse, their conduct since the original sanction and "whether sufficient time has passed to allow for reform or rehabilitation".
And when asked about the change, Warner fumed: "I'm not a criminal. You should get a right of an appeal at some stage. I understand that they put a ban in place but banning someone for life, I think it's a bit harsh.
"Where it's been disappointing, it's taken this long to get to where it has. It was brought up in I think February this year. So it's been drawn out.
"It's traumatic for me and my family and everyone else that was involved in it. We haven't needed to go back into that detail. We don't need to relive what happened."
There had been calls for Warner to be named Australia's new ODI captain after Aaron Finch retired from the format in September, but Test skipper Pat Cummins was handed the responsibility instead. Should Finch also retire from T20Is, Warner would be a prime candidate to replace him.
"It's frustrating because we could have done this about nine months ago when it was first brought up," Warner added. "It's unfortunate that obviously Finchy retired and then they sort of fast-tracked it in their own way.
"But it's a tad disappointing that when you make a decision in 2018, it's in four days, and then this takes nine months. So that's the hardest thing. It actually makes me look like I'm campaigning, which I'm totally not. So from my perspective, that's where it's been disappointing. But it's good to get in a position where we are now today."
