‘Reverend’ Warner pays a heavy price
From IPL contract to future Australian captaincy, he has lost it all
Damned as the chief plotter in the Australian balltampering 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 was heading home from South Africa in disgrace on Wednesday, friendless and with his reputation, already bruised by numerous run-ins, shattered.
Along with skipper Steve Smith, the 31-year-old Warner was banned for a year by Cricket Australia for his part in the third Test scandal in Cape Town that saw Cameron Bancroft use sandpaper to illegally scuff up the ball before a laughingly crude attempt to conceal the evidence down his trousers.
“He (Warner) spoke with Cameron (Bancroft) in the change room while Smith was otherwise engaged, seemingly with a lot on his mind,” a Cricket Australia source said, 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 cricinfo website opens it’s 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 Australian 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.
Last year, he was the team’s unofficial shop steward as Australian players and governing body Cricket Australia found themselves at loggerheads over a pay dispute. Hardly surprising then that Warner, who was vice-captain to Smith with the national team, has been nicknamed ‘The Reverend’.
In June 2013, Warner was suspended and fined for punching England’s Joe Root in a Birmingham bar on the eve of the Ashes