Can a Warner change his spots?

Update: Bittaaaaara

Update: Folau; Two anti-gay Twitter posts = contract torn up. Warner; A list of far more serious efforts as long as his arm = Welcome back Davey!

Bittaaaaaaaaa!

"Massaging the ego's". Yeah, that's the perfect description, even at my level. Hard yakka at times too.

Bob, I had the privilege of talking with Bob Simpson many years ago and he described captaining Australia as "massaging the egos". He pointed out that the bulk of players were exceptional from an early age, shone at all levels are juniors, did well in Shield and expected to do equally as well in Tests. In other words, these guys knew they were good and some had serious ego problems while others did not. The trick was managing these egos to get the best out of them for the team sake. He made the interesting observation it was hardest when these guys were down in form, especially those with huge egos, because this had rarely if ever occurred in their careers before. I think in many ways, your captaining a team for so long was a far more demanding job than captaining Australia. Paine has a raft of people to help him if need be but again, he really only has to manage egos. You had to do that, plus manage 11 different personalities, the kids coming in versus the old stagers, the guys who were not super keen to play versus those who still had the "baggy green dream, etc". I know from a lot less captaincy experience than you, that's a tough gig, especially if your lucky enough to have a prima donna in the team! I don't remember anyone wearing that tag at Test level, but I've played with plenty and captained a few.

If Warner hadn't changed his spots prior to his appalling behaviour in Seth Efrica then he's never going to. It'll be interesting to see what CA do with the obnoxious twerp after his next offense.

I had a little rant about team harmony in a separate post further up the page Isaac. I posted it before you put this one in otherwise I would have replied here.

The premise that Warner and Smith might upset the team harmony is well worth examining. I never played at a high level but I did play for 30 years and 20 of those years as a captain. What I found was that team harmony was a surprisingly fluid and fickle thing. You would think that most players would prefer to have people they got on with as team mates and that’s true to a certain extent but it’s amazing how tolerant they can be when the team d-head is a gun player. If he’s scoring runs and/or taking wickets most of the players I came across didn’t really care what he was like as a bloke. It was usually only when they stopped being a gun that the grumbling started. That was good for me because I could drop them on the grounds of a loss of form and not for being an a-hole ???? .. I’m not sure if that’s the case at the highest levels of the game but I can’t see any reason it shouldn’t be. These guys are professionals after all.

But Isaac, haven't they already shown that? Let's not forget that Warner was not sanctioned by the ICC yet CA ousted him for a year, tore up his contract and banned him for life from ever having a leadership role in any format. I don't know about you but I think that's pretty much showing him what they thought.

fair enough Isaac, I respect your opinion which you've explained really well. I'm on the other side of the fence obviously, where I think we must give guys, who are world class cricketers, a chance to redeem themselves. Could Warner go off the rails - for sure. Could Smith completely lose the plot again - not likely but anything's possible. I just think we are measurably stronger as a team if these guys can play. It will show what sort of leaders we have in Finch & Paine about how they manage the issues around these guys which will inevitably happen.

What matters is what the Australian public think – are they ready for a Warner return? : I'm not so sure about the relevance of what the Aussie public thinks. We don't pick the side and most people I know are just about over all the moralising and are far more interested in getting our best side on the paddock.

Boooo

hi Isaac, your article starts off with one questionable sentence; "David Warner’s impending return to the Australian setup before the ODI World Cup has caused a lot more angst than would have previously been thought". I'm wondering where this anxiety/fear was coming from and who was feeling it? My only angst around Warner was whether he could come back playing as well as he was before THAT incident and he seems to have answered that question in spades with his recent IPL performances. I can only detect minor rumblings from the public about his return but major excitement when he & Smith were playing grade cricket last season. The players, coaches & administrators don't seem to have any angst, quite the opposite in fact. "surely there are now serious reservations about whether they return before and for the World Cup". Leaving these guys out of the WC squad would be akin to dropping Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli from India's team. I cannot see ANY reservations about picking them, now they've proven their fitness and form. As for your comments about Warner "becoming more of a wallflower", why would he need to do that? The guy has huge amounts of positive energy that can spark other players in a good way. Graeme Smith acknowledged that with his comments but also said, in effect, Warner needs to tone it down and Warner is already doing that. I haven't heard ONE issue from any of the cricket he's played that might suggest bad behavior and you can bet he's been provoked, on and off the field. Both Smith & Warner know they have to make amends for THAT incident, so they'll be on their best behavior. More to the point, CA will be working with them to make sure they aren't provoked and to ensure they focus on winning another World Cup and then the Ashes. Then watch the angst that comes from England and the other cricketing nations!