Peace brewing as Smith, Warner meet for coffee

Had it been any other two Australian cricketers, then it would have been nothing more than a coffee. When the players on either side of the table are Steve Smith and David Warner, however, it is much more than that.

Relations between Australia’s fallen test captain and vice-captain have been somewhere between highly-strained and virtually nonexistent since the ball tampering crisis in South Africa in March.

In the months afterwards, Smith had all but brushed off his former deputy and long-time state and international team-mate, telling those close to him that he felt Warner had thrown him under the bus by not taking more ownership of the plot to use sandpaper on the ball in the third test at Newlands.

News then that the pair sat down for coffee a fortnight ago is encouraging, particularly if your name is Justin Langer and you’re running a national team currently operating without its two best batsmen.

Smith and Warner haven’t been strangers since Cape Town. They both played in the new Twenty20 league in Canada and in the Caribbean Premier League. Between their obligations to train with their Sydney grade cricket teams they’ve also continued training at times with the NSW squad – as permitted by Cricket Australia during their 12-month bans – but usually not in the same session.

But the coffee chat was an opportunity for a more substantive conversation and a chance to smoke the peace pipe.

The outcome of the meeting will likely depend very much on whether you listen to the version of Smith or Warner. Attempts to reach the two players and their representatives were unsuccessful.

What is clear is that the pair did not suddenly become besties again after a couple of lattes. There is a great deal of trust to be regained and because of the emotional toll of the South African scandal, there are deep wounds that still need to be healed. But the meeting is being viewed as a positive starting point.

The reality is that Smith and Warner were not close as captain and vice-captain anyway, although things were not as toxic as they became between a leadership duo that came before them, Michael Clarke and Shane Watson.

It had been noticeable to close observers, in fact, that they had been working well together at the start of the South African tour. Then came Warner’s run-in with Quinton de Kock in the stairwell at Kingsmead. The rest, as we know, is history.

For Smith, his international future probably doesn’t live or die by whether he restores some kind of relationship with Warner. He’ll be back next year anyway.

But for Warner it’s an important step towards finding his way into the Australian team again. A batsman of his calibre is obviously just what Australia need in England next year for the World Cup and Ashes but in this post-longstaff world of officially selecting players on character as well as runs – as if that never was the case beforehand – team harmony will certainly be a consideration.

What is clear is that the pair did not suddenly become besties again after a couple of lattes. Steve Smith, left, and David Warner.