David Warner will speak with the Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland and hopes he can win over “the boss” as he has done the selectors and the board to become Steven Smith’s vice-captain.
In the lead-up to the appointments of Smith and Warner, Sutherland had struck a notably lukewarm note about the vice-captain’s leadership credentials. “I don’t think that’s necessarily an obvious next step,” Sutherland had said in response to questions about whether Warner was an obvious candidate to be Smith’s vice-captain.
It was Sutherland who spoke out most staunchly to decry Warner’s behaviour on the previous Ashes tour, describing the punch he swung at Joe Root as “a despicable thing” and offering stern warnings about the opening batsman’s future if he did not improve. Warner said he would speak with Sutherland at the next available opportunity and said he respected the chief executive’s opinion.
“He’s our boss and I have to respect what he says,” Warner said. “But the board obviously approved me being vice-captain and I thank them for their support, trust and faith in myself to be under Steve and help Steve as much as I can with my knowledge of the game. We’ve still got a whole squad here and we see them all as leaders in their own right. James hasn’t been in touch. I’m sure I’ll get to speak to him at some stage.
“It’s definitely a massive honour and a boyhood dream just to first to get your baggy green but to be recognised as a leader within the group and being named vice captain is obviously a massive thrill for myself and I know my family as well. Obviously it’s a tag that I’m going to have to live with day by day now. It’s an added responsibility and I’ll be doing everything I can to help Steve on the field and off the field.
“I think the past 12-18 months I’ve shown how much I’ve matured. I’ve got a young family, I recently got married, I’m enjoying my off-field and I’m thoroughly enjoying my on-field performances as well. So for me it’s about me trying to help Steve as much as we can driving this team forward for the next five to 10 years.”
Warner’s persona has been an evolving one, both on the field and away from the game. He has been working to find a middle ground between the aggressor and agent provocateur he has been in the past and the leader he must now become. He also spoke for how hard the team had worked and would continue to work under the new leadership duo.
“I’ll still give the banter [within the squad]. Obviously in our team we sometimes we are serious, sometimes we do joke around a lot,” he said. “Each team needs a few characters and I see myself as being that character sometimes, and I will probably try and continue to be that funny person.
“I think the way that I’ve been . . . a lot of my energy has gone on the field, and a lot of hard work has been going on in the nets as well. I don’t just speak for myself, I speak for the whole team. What people don’t see and don’t understand is how much preparation that goes into these tours. We have had a long tour. We’ve been on the road for a while. We went to the West Indies and we won there, we’ve come here and we’ve been disappointing.
“But we’re giving 100% every time we walk out there. Every time we go to training our preparation is outstanding. You can’t fault anyone for their preparation … we’ve been beaten by a better team at the moment. We’ve got one Test to go and we’re going out there trying to prove what we’re actually capable of.”
WARNER APPOINTED STEVEN SMITH’S DEPUTY:
David Warner’s image makeover has been rewarded with his appointment as Steven Smith’s lieutenant, after the Cricket Australia board approved the recommendations of the selectors for the leadership team to succeed the retiring captain Michael Clarke.
Smith had always been in line to be named as captain following his strong displays as stand-in for the injured Clarke during the home summer, but Warner has needed to do considerable work on his attitude on and off the field in recent times to grow into a role that will be pivotal in support.
As the chairman of selectors Rod Marsh acknowledged, the 28-year-old Warner has come a long way since he was suspended on the previous Ashes tour for throwing a punch at Joe Root in a Birmingham bar. Alongside Smith, he has been Australia’s most prolific batsman in recent times, and has also this year toned down his self-appointed role as the team’s on-field “attack dog”, something he discussed with ESPNcricinfo in the West Indies.
“We have reached a point in time where we’ve had to look at our leadership positions again with an eye to the future,” Marsh said. “David has matured and developed into an important senior figure in the Australian team. He has come a long way.
“He had valuable experience captaining the Sunrisers in the IPL earlier this year and we are confident he will provide strong support to Steve as his deputy. We believe that he will respond well to the added responsibility of leadership.”
Other contenders for the role included Mitchell Johnson, who had been appointed vice-captain of the limited-overs team in the past, but the selectors were always likely to settle on Smith and Warner after the latter’s recent work to mature as a cricketer. He will still have some work ahead of him to prove that progress to the rest of the world, who know him as much for his abrasive manner as his explosive batting.
Smith has emerged as Australia’s leader over the past 18 months, first becoming an integral member of the team in all formats and then showing his captaincy ability when Clarke was unavailable against India. He has also captained New South Wales to the 2014 Sheffield Shield and the Sydney Sixers to the 2012 Big Bash League title.
“We have had a clear succession plan in place for the captaincy with Steve Smith gaining valuable experience leading the Australian Test Team while Michael Clarke was recovering from injury last season,” Marsh said. “When Michael made his decision to retire last week it was a very straightforward decision for us to nominate Steve as his successor.
