David Warner is lucky to be available for Ashes selection and the batsman’s attack on England’s Joe Root was “despicable,” according to Australian cricket board boss James Sutherland.
Sutherland also said Warner’s teammates should be held to account for being out drinking with the opener at the Birmingham pub in the early hours of Sunday morning.
“David Warner has done a despicable thing, but I also hold the team into account here,” Cricket Australia chief executive Sutherland told reporters in Brisbane yesterday.
“There were other people there with him and those who were there need to take account of that, and so does the team as a whole as well,” he said.
“There’s not a lot that is good that happens at 2:30 in the morning at a pub or a nightclub,” he added.
Warner issued an apology on Thursday after being suspended until the first Ashes Test on July 10 and fined A$11,500 (US$11,000) for his part in the incident, which occurred early on Sunday after Australia’s Champions Trophy defeat by England.
Cricket Australia said Warner would miss the rest of the ongoing Champions Trophy, as well as Australia’s two tour matches against Somerset and Worcestershire before the Ashes, after pleading guilty to breaching their rule on “unbecoming behavior.”
The left-hander was also fined A$5,750 last month for a Twitter outburst against two prominent Australian cricket journalists.
“I think he’s very lucky,” Sutherland said of Warner’s availability for the Ashes.
“It could have been a lot worse, couldn’t it?” he added.
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