Warne sayswarner row could unite Australia
BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom, June 13, 2013 (AFP) - Shane Warne said the fall-out from David Warner's controversial attack on England batsman Joe Root could yet “bring Australia together” as they bid to regain the Ashes.
Opening batsman Warner was suspended by Cricket Australia on Thursday until the first Ashes Test, which starts at Nottingham's Trent Bridge on July 10 and fined AUS $11,500, (7,000, $11,000).
He will now miss the rest of title-holders Australia's Champions Trophy campaign, starting with their final group game against Sri Lanka at London's Oval ground on Monday, and their two warm-up matches ahead of the Ashes. But he will be eligible for the first Test itself.
The 26-year-old was dropped for Australia's Champions Trophy match against New Zealand on Wednesday, although he did appear as 12th man, after the incident at an Australian theme pub in the central English city of Birmingham in the early hours of Sunday morning followed England's tournament-opening 48-run win over the Aussies.
“In a funny sort of way this could bring Australia together. I think it is a chance for them to gel together,” Warne wrote in his column in Britain's Daily Telegraph on Thursday, before Warner's hearing was held. “They really have to take this opportunity to sit down and have a chat about what they want to achieve,””After this incident England could be thinking to themselves Australia are there for the taking,” the legspin legend, himself no stranger to offfield controversy during a colourful
career, added.