David Warner will be drawing down curtains on his international career at the end of the ongoing 2024 T20 World Cup and he is only counting on the positives. He hopes the constant abuse for his involvement in the 2018 ball-tampering scandal that rocked the entire cricketing world will be lesser once he takes off the ‘Baggy Green’.
Warner was among the three Australian players including former captain Steve Smith and opening batter Cameron Bancroft who were found guilty of ball tampering during the Newlands Test of 2018 against South Africa. Warner and Smith were banned for 12 months while Bancroft received a nine-month ban. Additionally, Warner was also banned from holding any leadership positions in the Australian teams
“Coming back since 2018 I’ve probably… been the only one that’s ever copped a lot of flak,” Warner was quoted as saying to reporters.
“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,” he added.
Warner feels his name will be associated with the ‘sandpaper gate’ but is rather keen to focus on his supporters, who will see him as a cricketer first.
“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,” he added.
Warner pointed out examples of other sporting scandals that did not tarnish the reputations like the 2018- sanda did to him.
“You look at the Tom Brady thing with ‘Deflategate’, 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,” Warner said.
“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,” he added.
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