David Warner
Former Australian cricket vice-captain David Warner arrives at Cape Town International Airport, South Africa March 27, 2018. Reuters / Sumaya Hisham

Axed Australian vice-captain David Warner has legitimate fears that he will never play for his country again. In an emotional press conference on Saturday, Warner conceded that his Australian cricket career could be over.

Warner has been banned for a period of 12 months, and from captaincy for life, by Cricket Australia (CA) for his integral part in the ball-tampering fiasco that rocked the foundation of Australian cricket. Upon CA's investigation, it was revealed that Warner was the mastermind behind the plot to tamper with the cricket ball during the third day of the third Test match against South Africa at Newlands, Cape Town.

"In the back of my mind I suppose there is a tiny ray of hope that I may one day be given the privilege of playing for my country again, but I am resigned to the fact that that may never happen. But in the coming weeks and months I'm going to look at how this has happened and who I am as a man. To be honest I'm not sure right now how I'll do this. I will seek out advice and expertise to help me make serious changes," said Warner, who has scored 35 international hundreds across formats.

In a press conference at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), Warner took full responsibility for hatching the scheme that resulted in former captain Steve Smith and opening batsman Cameron Bancroft also receiving bans. The scandal also led to coach Darren Lehmann announcing his resignation.

"I want to apologise to my family, especially my wife and daughters. Your love means more than anything to me. I know I would not be anything without you. I'm very sorry for putting you through this and I promise you that I will never put you in this position again. I take full responsibility for my part in what happened and I am deeply sorry for the consequences of what I was involved in. I failed in my responsibilities as vice-captain of the Australian cricket team," Warner read from a statement.

Warner admitted that he never expected such dire consequences for his actions. "We know what the consequences are when you make horrible decisions like this. We let our country down, we made a bad decision, I played my part in that and it's going to take a long time to earn that respect back from the Australian public," the explosive opening batsman added.

The 2019 Cricket World Cup in England gets underway on May 30, 2019. In a perfect world, Cricket Australia's selectors would hope to have David Warner and Steve Smith back when Australia defend their World Cup crown next year.