The Twenty20 World Cup in the Caribbean is Warner’s last international tournament,after he retired from Tests with great fanfare at the SCG in January. Australia are in prime position to add another global trophy after sailing unbeaten through the pool phase.
David Warner celebrating at his swansong international tournament:the T20 World Cup.AP
Six years ago,Cricket Australia’s hierarchy singled out Warner as the most culpable figure in events at Cape Town,banning him from playing for a year and from leadership positions for life.
An attempt to have the leadership component of Warner’s punishment overturned in 2022 was abandoned. That was largely because he did not wish to go through the ordeal of a public hearing to revisit the events of Newlands,which remain an awkward topic for many in Australian cricket to this day.
“Coming back since 2018 I’ve probably ... been the only one that’s ever copped a lot of flak,” Warner told travelling reporters Ben Horne and Louis Cameron in Antigua ahead of Australia’s super eights clash with Bangladesh on Friday morning. “Whether it’s people who don’t like the Australian cricket team or don’t like me,I’ve always been that person who has copped it.
“It’s fine if they want to do that,but I always feel like I’ve taken a lot of pressure off a lot of guys as well,and I think understandably I’ve been that person to be able to absorb that. But one can only absorb[so much]. For me,it’s great to go out knowing I’m not going to cop it any more.”
David Warner in tears during his press conference after the ball-tampering scandal in 2018.Getty
In the aftermath of his bid to be eligible for leadership positions,Warner reached a point of acceptance that it would always be his lot to be the lightning rod for criticism and questions about the scandal. But he expressed hope that close watchers of the game would also remember him for how he broke the batting mould for Australia.
“I think it’s going to be inevitable that when people talk about me in 20 or 30 years’ time,there will always be that sandpaper scandal,” he said.
“But for me,if they’re real cricket tragics and they love cricket,[and] my closest supporters,they will always see me as that cricketer – someone who tried to change the game … someone who tried to follow in the footsteps of the openers before me and try and score runs at a great tempo and change Test cricket in a way.”
Warner noted that some other sporting scandals had not tarnished the reputations of similarly high-profile athletes nearly as much as the 2018 conflagration,which led to many calls for Warner and then captain Steve Smith to be banned for life.
“You look at the,it sort of blew over,” Warner said. “But because this is our national sport and there’s a lot going on at the time with the Australian prime minister and his cabinet deflected upon cricket.
“There was a great deflection,and there was a lot going on in the politics world as well. So the focus shifted towards the Australian cricket team. It was difficult. That was difficult. But to move on from that,it’s been great.[I] just knuckled down and do as well as I can,and I’ve copped my fair share of all that.”
During Warner’s time out of the game,he played club cricket and spent considerable time with volunteers at the game’s lower levels. That and the love of family were two positives that Warner took out of the scandal.
“From 2018,it opened up my eyes to the people who are involved in cricket from the lower level. The volunteers[and] how much family actually means to you,” Warner said.
“I’ve been super impressed with where I’ve come from. My family,my wife[Candice] and daughters,my mum and dad,and Candice’s parents;they’ve helped me get to where I am now from 2018 specifically. We’ve all ridden the highs and lows together.”
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