‘The Reverend’ Warner now the unwanted man
Damned as the chief plotter in the Australian ball-tampering scandal, David Warner has been sunk by sparking one controversy too many.
The man who made headlines in 2009 by becoming the first player in 130 years to represent Australia without having featured in a first-class match headed home from SA in disgrace on Wednesday, friendless and with his reputation, already bruised by numerous run-ins, shattered.
Warner spoke with Cameron Bancroft “in the change room while Smith was otherwise engaged, seemingly with a lot on his mind”, a Cricket Australia (CA) source told AFP, recalling Saturday’s events at Newlands.
“I believe Smith knew something was going on but did not try to find out exactly what.”
For many in the game, Warner’s involvement as the instigator of the lunchtime plot is hardly a surprise.
“David Warner is a hard man to keep quiet. If his bat isn’t doing the talking his mouth probably is, and either way you can expect an assertive approach,” is how the ESPNcricinfo website starts its biography of the opening batsman.
In June 2013, Warner was suspended and fined for punching England’s Joe Root in a Birmingham bar on the eve of the Ashes. “I’m extremely remorseful. I have let my teammates, Cricket Australia, the fans, myself and my family down,” said Warner at the time.
Two months earlier, he was similarly contrite after an ugly Twitter spat with two journalists. “I could have chosen my words better and I apologise for any offence that my language may have caused,” wrote Warner.
But his trademark combative nature never dimmed.
He was the team’s unofficial shop steward in 2017 as Australian players and governing body CA found themselves at loggerheads over a pay dispute.
Warner defended his style, which even then hinted at an ability to shout louder than the boyish-looking Smith, who preferred quiet diplomacy.
“The way he [Smith] went about it [talks between the players and CA] was how he wanted to play it and I was always going to come out and be vocal and sticking up for the players,” Warner told Australian media.
Hardly surprising then that Warner has been nicknamed “The Reverend”.
Not that there was any indication of holiness about him as he led Australia’s assault on the doomed South African tour.
In the opening Test in Durban, he and Quinton de Kock squared up. Warner claimed De Kock had made “vile and disgusting” remarks about his wife, Candice.
The ball-tampering scandal during the Cape Town Test has already cost Warner. His $1.8m deal with Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League has been cancelled.
When his one-year ban ends, his dream of captaining Australia will also have died. “The Reverend”, it appears, has become “The Unwanted”. While it may be lost in the midst of the ball-tampering storm that has engulfed the series, Hashim Amla is fully aware that SA are on the cusp of history should they beat Australia in the fourth Test that starts on Friday.
Australia’s ball-tampering case has quite deservedly taken centre stage and shifted focus away from the fact that SA are on the verge of winning their first Test series against Australia since readmission.
Because of their six-wicket and 322-run triumphs in Port Elizabeth and Cape Town, the Proteas have fought back from the deflating 118-run defeat suffered in the first Test in Durban.
That match is less remembered for the result and the reverse swing obtained by Mitchell Starc and more for the stairwell fracas between David Warner and Quinton de Kock.
Former captain Steve Smith has also paid the price for his role in the ball-tampering matter with a year’s ban of his own, while Cameron Bancroft has accrued a nine-month ban.
Amla is not the gloating type, but knows it would be folly of SA not to be ruthless against an Australian side that in the past would have stuck the boot in fully with a series lead.
“We know how hard cricket is. It’s a tough sport and there’s so much that goes on behind the international scenes.
“When things like these happen, we definitely feel sympathetic towards a person who has made a mistake and now has to pay the price,” Amla said. Hashim Amla wants to concentrate on a series win over Australia, which would be the first at home since SA’s readmission to international cricket.
“We feel for the guys who found themselves in hot water.
“We’re also very motivated because SA have not won a series against Australia at home since readmission. There’s a lot for us to play for because at the start of the series that was the motivation because we want to be the first team that can achieve this milestone.
“We’ve played relatively good
cricket, not our best, but good cricket to be 2-1 up in the series. For us it’s about the cricket and with us being international, professional sportsmen, this is what we do.”
Like the departed Australian trio, the Wanderers itself is in a spot of bother because of the surface that was served up during the third Test between SA and India in late January.
The International Cricket Council censured the ground and with Australia’s potent bowling attack, a doctored pitch would not be something that should be on the menu.
In any case, there is too much on the line for both teams and on varied wickets at St George’s Park and Newlands, SA adapted better, played the smarter cricket and won the big moments.