Warner issue part of a deeper problem
In the Observer, Peter English writes that the David Warner bar brawl is a sign of a leadership crisis within the Australian team and that of an expanding dressing room divide
16-Jun-2013
In the Observer, Peter English writes that the David Warner bar brawl is a sign of a leadership crisis within the Australian team and that of an expanding dressing room divide. Hailing from working class roots, Warner is like many of his big-hitting Gen Y contemporaries, overloaded with cash and outward self-belief. It's not easy for Michael Clarke, who maintains big standards, to control his team-mates on and off the field.
After signing another lucrative contract last year, Warner celebrated like Vincent Chase from Entourage, escorting his mates to Las Vegas on holiday. For the recent IPL he bought some of them first-class passage to India so he could have some old friends to play with. A couple of those minders might have been useful this week. Instead his coterie included another wild child in Mitchell Marsh and Phil Hughes, who chose the same venue for sorrow drowning during the 2009 Ashes.
Australia's ruthlessness was one of the major reasons why they ruled cricket for over a decade. However, John Townsend in the Independent reasons the punishments meted out for recent player transgressions lack that very quality.
If his drunken stoush was so bad, why not send him home to contemplate how to salvage his foundering career?
If not, give him a whack and then let him get back to business in time to have an impact on the first Test.
Sadly, from an Australian point of view, Warner's half-pregnant penalty is typical of the malaise that has gripped the national cricket set-up.