Cricket Australia have to blame themselves because they gave David Warner the vice-captaincy when they knew he was an...
David Warner
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Every Cluedo mystery needs a man of the cloth. Warner is the red rag to his own bull. So much of the blame for this series should be laid at his feet. His promotion to the vice-captaincy was always a risk, unless of course you take a rather literal interpretation of the word 'vice.' Cricket Australia (CA) have no one to blame but themselves. He is clearly ill-suited to any role that involves mature self-reflection and wisdom.
That he was part of the leadership group speaks volumes for Cricket Australia's blindness to the inevitability of his end. They were happy to use him to snarl at opponents and making crazy tatements prior to the 2016-17 Ashes - which he viewed as a war. It was always going to end in tears when he has as many skeletons in his closet and is a seriously unhinged individual.
And now that opponents know that he is hypersensitive to any references to New Zealand rugby players, it is inevitable that it will be used against him again. You can't imagine anyone sledging a mild-mannered Usman Khawaja or Hashim Amla with offensive references to their religion or wives. Their behaviour doesn't attract venom like moths to the Warner flame. That he showed no executive judgment in this instance is not surprising. A serial victim of white line fever, he was the unlikeliest of all to stand tall and say, "we won't cheat." His handlers have bred a beast who is lauded for his commitment to winning at all costs.
At any cost. And what a cost it has turned out to be. His hypocrisy is truly breathtaking. In 2016, this is what he said when Faf Du Plessis was found guilty of using a lozenge to shine the ball. "I won't comment on the way (South Africa) have been behaving but I just know from an Australian cricket perspective, we hold our heads high and I'll be very disappointed if one of our teammates (did that)."
CA gave him the vice captaincy despite knowing full well that he was an unhinged grenade, liable to blow up any time. When the victims of his rabid attacks were opponents, they all cheered loudly and gave him false confidence to think he was invincible. No one, in the team, or at Board level ever thought that their pet viper might one day sink his fangs into his own handlers.
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