It’s been a while since we have spoken about David Warner, and that’s largely because the disgraced (yes, he cheated) Ozzie cricketer has kept a rather low profile of late.

Other than the odd Instagram post, Warner seems to have hidden from public sight, although he’s once again back in the news following the appointment of Justin Langer as Ozzie cricket coach.

That’s because Langer, a no-nonsense opener himself back in the day, had good news for Warner, former skipper Steve Smith and batsman Cameron Bancroft.

We’ll start with Warner, with this below from Stuff:

Justin Langer has backed David Warner to return to Australia duties in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal, describing him as a “really good” person who made a mistake…

“He’s a really good young bloke and he made a mistake,” Langer said on Thursday.

“I love the way he plays his cricket. The way he runs between the wickets, the way he fields, the way he bats – they’re things that for the less-trained eye, you might not respect as much.

“Has he got areas to get better at? Yep … we’ve all got areas we can get better at.

I’d like to get better at exhibiting patience and eating slower, and David Warner can get better at not being a massive cheat who enlisted the help of his youngest, most easily influenced teammate, taught him how to cheat, and then threw him under the bus.

We all have our crosses to bear.

Back to Langer, who was also full of praise for Smith and Bancroft:

“If we can keep mentoring them and helping them, and they want to keep getting better and they want to meet the standards of the Australian cricket team, then of course they’ll be welcomed back”…

“Cameron Bancroft and Steve Smith literally, besides Mike Hussey, love the game more than anyone I know,” he said.

“They are cricket tragics and they’re great kids. That’s why it’s such a surprise they made the mistake they did.

“We’ve all made mistakes. We can all get better at things.”

I will be fine with seeing Smith and Bancroft back in the Baggy Green when their suspensions are completed, and they’ll come back from this as better people, but David Warner can get stuffed and should never appear for his country again.

The topic of the three banned cricketers wasn’t the only talking point, with CricketAU picking their top quotes.

Here are a few standouts:

On sledging

“The funny thing about sledging, I hear this probably October 3 every single year – I’m going to read the same headlines and I’ve laughed about this for 25 years. Every team that comes over and it’s ‘how are you going to combat the Australian sledging’ and they go ‘well we’re not going to be scared of Australian sledging’.”

On aggressive cricket

“I was very fortunate, I was brought up under Bob Simpson and Allan Border. I still get nervous even saying their names, they were that tough and they demanded excellence on and off the cricket field and we played hard. I think the public will be disappointed if we don’t play good, hard, competitive cricket. That said, we can also modify our behaviours.”

On mateship

“It was so competitive to get into the (Australian) team, but when you walk through the doors with the Baggy Green it was like a brotherhood, it was like a nightclub mate. It was awesome. We’d walk in and they are my brothers. I think about Matty Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting and Glenn McGrath – they are literally like my brothers. That’s what we’ve got to keep promoting in the Australian team.”

“People see me as really tough and serious, that’s my public persona, but I’m also a bit of a hippie. My daughter gave me a shave two days ago, because one month every year I like to grow a beard and not wear shoes.”

OK, that bit I can relate to.

Here’s hoping Justin Langer can sort out that Ozzie team culture, because at present they’re not the most popular team going around.

[sources:stuff&cricketau]