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In defence of Davey Warner

6th March, 2018
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Can Davey claw back some respectability by taking on Rabada? (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
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6th March, 2018
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Australian opener David Warner was involved in a couple of ugly incidents in the first Test against South Africa, which have once again called into question his temperament and behaviour.

In the court of public opinion, he’s already been found guilty, yet one needs to ask, is the ruling fair?

Now, I’m no lawyer, but I enjoyed watching The Practice when I was a kid, and A Few Good Men is one of my favourite movies, so I think that’s more than enough to qualify me for having a strong opinion on any legal matters, let alone ones of the trivial, ‘public opinion’ variety.

Yesterday, ESPNCricinfo published an article that outlined all of the unsavoury incidents that Warner has been involved in over the years.

It warrants a spirited defence of his honour, even though I know it will be an almost impossible and thankless task. Yet, such are the hardships of being the Australian cricket team’s defence lawyer.

March 2018: Heated exchange with Quinton de Kock
If the whispers are true that de Kock brought Warner’s wife into the conversation, then I have to say that Davey’s reaction was actually quite mild. My reaction would be much the same if someone made a nasty comment about my wife, and I can’t imagine the South African wicketkeeper’s comment was as innocuous or innocent as “She’s a world-class ironwoman”.

The retort here is that Warner often crosses the line of what’s personal himself, so he can’t be sensitive when it comes back his way. That’s fair, but do we have proof Warner has ‘crossed the line’ into family?

To be honest, it’s all becomes a bit subjective. It’s often said that the problem with sledging is that what’s acceptable in one culture is not in another. Aussie cricketers think family is out of bounds, but have no issue dropping a c-bomb or talking about physical appearance.

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This incident was unsavoury, but understandable, and somewhat excusable. You should defend your wife’s honour, Your Honour.

South Africa's Quinton de Kock celebrates making 100 runs

South Africa’s Quinton de Kock (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

October 2017: The Ashes “war” and finding the “hatred” within
Please. In this instance, he’s guilty of hyperbole, exaggeration and some poor choice of words. Nothing more, nothing less.

Warner is certainly never going to be guilty of being a wordsmith, but if gamesmanship and pre-Ashes banter is a crime, then the cricket prison is going to be awfully crowded.

Januray 2015: “Speak English” to Rohit Sharma
I actually remember watching this live, and cringing at the sight of Warner yelling at Sharma to speak in Warner’s home dialect. It’s the type of comment ignorant Aussies hurl at people from non-English speaking countries, so it wasn’t a pleasant episode.

However, it was revealed that Warner was actually being sledged in Hindi, and simply wanted to know what he was being sledged about, because he only speaks fluent ‘Strayan. It’s a fair request, actually.

David Warner has words with Indian batsman Rohit Sharma

AAP Image/David Crosling

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December 2014: “Come on” to Varun Aaron
Warner was dismissed by the Indian seam bowler, who gave him a little bit of a send-off. Only issue is that the delivery was called a no-ball, and Warner was called back to the wicket. On the way back, he mimicked Aaron’s “Come on”, yelling it back at him.

All power to him, I say.

February 2014: Illegal – and unfounded – reverse-swing accusations against AB de Villiers
This strange accusation was shot down by Warner’s own teammates. Um, yeah. Shall we just move on?

November 2013: “England batsmen had scared eyes”
Warner copped a lot of flak for saying the Poms didn’t look like they wanted to face Mitchell Johnson, so apparently now telling the (obvious) truth is a crime.

The crux of the issue came from the revelation that Jonathan Trott was facing some mental demons, but in all seriousness, how the hell was Warner to know that when he said Trott’s dismissals were “pretty poor and pretty weak”? If Trott’s struggles don’t become public knowledge, this is a complete non-story.

October 2013: An afternoon at the races
Oh c’mon, who among hasn’t “chucked a sickie”?

Warner missed a club game for Randwick-Petersham and went to the races instead. Do you know where Randwick Racecourse is? Have you seen Randwick Racecourse? I think Warner just went to the wrong ground. Easy mistake to make.

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July 2013: Another South African keeper, another incident
This was put down as “friendly banter” from Warner himself, and no one is better placed to defend the person in question than the person in question, so clearly there is nothing to see here. Jog along, all.

[latest_videos_strip category=”cricket” name=”Cricket”]

July 2013: The infamous Joe Root punch
Apparently, Warner was actually simply standing up for Hashim Amla, whom he thought Root was rudely impersonating. And we all know the strong bond Warner has with South African cricketers. Are we really going to hold him accountable for being an upstanding citizen, and punching someone?

Oh. We are? Oh.

May 2013: Twitter beef with Aussie journos
Warner didn’t take too kindly to his picture being placed alongside an article about corruption in the IPL. Considering the article wasn’t about him, you can understand his frustration and subsequent blow-up.

It did seem as if was an – ahem – ‘escape goat’…

February 2011: Twitter beef with Brett Geeves
I mean, who hasn’t had a Twitter beef with Geevesy? Even yours truly came into his sights when I called him a “rent-a-quote”. The list of people that have had disagreements with the ex-Tasmanian quick isn’t exactly an exclusive club, and I’m not sure it’s evidence to convict someone of very much.

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To be honest, upon review, the above list of incidents isn’t that bad.

Warner is passionate, fiery, combative and competitive. While this has often got him in trouble, it also puts him in the same class of individual as Shane Warne, Ricky Ponting, Dennis Lillee, etc. From a contemporary point of view, you could describe Virat Kohli the same way. So Warner isn’t exactly in bad company.

Sure, the sheer amount of incidents here would suggest there is a problem, but he sure does make cricket more interesting, and he hasn’t done anything seriously wrong, Your Honour. Boys will be boys, right? Especially Aussie ones.

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