Tim Paine has rubbished reports of rift between David Warner and other Australian cricket team members following the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa. Like the newly-appointed coach Justin Langer, Paine too has made it clear that he is more than willing to welcome the 31-year-old Warner back to the team once his 12-month ban ends next year.
Australian journalist Robert Craddock, in an interview to SEN radio, had said that Langer’s plan to bring Warner back following the end of his ban would only create problems considering “half the players can’t stand him” and don’t want him in the side.
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Paine, though, was all praise for Warner and termed Craddock’s comments “off the mark” and “really unfair”.
“I certainly like Crash Craddock’s writing and when he’s on TV I’m a fan of his. But I thought he was a little bit off the mark there and really unfair on David Warner as a person and as a cricketer,” Paine was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
“David is someone who’s certainly highly competitive on the field and sometimes that can rub people and oppositions up the wrong way. But within our team he’s someone with that energy and competitiveness that we love playing with. They were disappointing comments and it’s not the way David is held within our team.
{{/usCountry}}“David is someone who’s certainly highly competitive on the field and sometimes that can rub people and oppositions up the wrong way. But within our team he’s someone with that energy and competitiveness that we love playing with. They were disappointing comments and it’s not the way David is held within our team.
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“There’s a side of David that people don’t know – he’s very loyal and really caring and a good team man to have around,” he added.
Among the banned trio of Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, Warner drew the maximum amount of flak for his role in the ball-tampering scandal that came to the fore during the Cape Town Test in South Africa in March this year.
Apart from receiving severe criticism from cricket fraternity, there were reports of Warner facing alienation from his own team members. Some reports also claimed that Warner had removed himself from the WhatsApp group of the team following the incident.
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Later, Cricket Australia (CA) investigation revealed Warner as the mastermind of ball-tampering plan and it was learnt that many Australian cricketers didn’t want to play with him again. After returning from South Africa, Warner himself admitted that he may never play for the country again.
Paine, however, said all was well between Warner and other members of the team.
“There was maybe a day or two there where guys were in and out of the investigation.
“But guys in that team get along well and David is a respected member of that team, he always has been. As long as I’ve been around the team he’s been really well liked and really well received by his teammates,” he concluded.