Ag shame, David, people still giving you a hard time about being a cheat?

The Ozzie sledger-in-chief is currently serving the 12-month ban handed down by Cricket Australia for his involvement in the Newlands cheating saga, where members of the Ozzie team used sandpaper to alter the condition of the ball.

You’ve seen the footage, but in case you missed it, the blow-by-blow account of how SuperSport pinned them is quite good fun.

Whilst Warner is banned from international and state cricket, he is not banned from playing grade cricket, and has been turning out for Sydney side Randwick-Petersham.

Over the weekend, with Warner on 35, he walked off the field mid-innings, telling umpires he was removing himself from the game:

Warner went on to score 157 after he returned to the middle, but that’s not the story that is dominating the headlines.

Everyone wants to know what was said that caused Warner to walk off, so here’s the Sydney Morning Herald:

David Warner was reacting to a barb about ball tampering from the brother of fallen cricketer Phillip Hughes when he sensationally left the field while batting during a grade game on Saturday.

The Western Suburbs District Cricket Club issued a statement on Sunday saying comments from Jason Hughes towards Warner which prompted the batsman’s walk-off were not in relation to his brother, who died after being struck during a Shield game in 2014.

Fairfax Media understands Hughes said to Warner, “You’re a disgrace, you shouldn’t be playing cricket.” It’s believed the comments were in relation to the ball tampering incident in South Africa for which Warner copped a 12-month ban…

Warner, who turned 32 on Saturday, has privately told people Phillip Hughes was not mentioned, a claim echoed by officials from his club Randwick Petersham.

OK, so it would have hurt that Phil Hughes’ brother delivered the chirp. After all, Warner and Hughes were good mates, and Warner was playing in the match where Hughes was hit on the head by a bouncer and later died.

That being said, how is it OK for Warner to call Quinton de Kock a “bush pig”, and also make derogatory comments about his sister and mother, but his ball-tampering history is off limits?

Looks like a classic case of being able to dish it out and not take it, David.

As has become customary for Warner, wife Candice went to bat for him, appearing on Channel Nine’s Sports Sunday show to defend her husband:

“I’m not going to go into the details but David was taken aback by the comments and thought they went a little bit too far, so he decided to remove himself from the game,” Candice Warner said…

“Everyone has their own opinion but I think there’s a difference between sledging and abuse.

“I’m not going to go into what was said yesterday but yesterday went too far.”

Asked by co-panellist Peter FitzSimons if the comments were “abusive”, she said: “I personally would put it into that category but I’m talking for myself.”

Yes, you are.

The next bit make sense, but with a disclaimer:

Candice said her husband left the field to avoid escalating the issue.

“I think he removed himself because he first of all didn’t like what he was hearing and where that could have been taken,” she said.

“It was hurtful, it was very hurtful.”

Disclaimer – if Warner cannot handle a chirp from a guy in a grade cricket match, how is he going to handle a return to international cricket? Fans of the opposing team will be on his back, relentlessly and without mercy, and as soon as he opens his mouth on the field it’s fair game regarding his cheating past.

For a player that has built a career on being his team’s mongrel-in-chief, in a team that maintained a toxic team culture for the best part of a decade, he doesn’t get to play choirboy now.

Walking off the field during the grade cricket match may have been the right move, if Warner felt that he was liable to say something he might regret later, but he will need to harden up quickly if he wants to return to the top level.

Oh, and stop sending your wife out to make your public statements on your behalf. Warner spoke tirelessly about how the media scrutiny affected his family during the ball-tampering controversy, so why does Candice consistently speak on his behalf these days?

It’s far too early to tell if Warner will ever play cricket on South African shores again, but if he does, expect chirps about being a “cheat” and a “disgrace” to be the least of his worries.

[source:smh]