LONDON: David Warner is set to commentate on the team he has been banned from, when Australia take on England in an ODI series starting June 13. The series will be Australia’s first under the new leadership of Tim Paine and Justin Langer after the ball-tampering scandal that led to Warner’s ban, and the former vice-captain will commentate for it as part of Channel Nine’s coverage.
According to Cricinfo, lose on the heels of his signing up with the Global T20 Canada, Warner will join the commentary panel for the second game of the five-match ODI series in Cardiff on June 16.
“Dave is the best one-day and T20 batsman of the past decade so he’s perfectly placed to join our coverage for the UK series,” Nine’s director of sport Tom Malone said. “People have tried to paint Dave as the villain in all this, but he’s been hurting as much as the others.
“We’ve had a professional relationship with Dave for five years now. We’ve always found him to be a pretty normal and humble bloke. He just wants to atone for his mistakes and move on – I hope Australia gives all of them that chance.”
Into the third month of serving a one-year ban imposed by Cricket Australia, Warner will return to competitive cricket later this month. After commentating in the UK, he will join his banned team-mate Steven Smith at the inaugural season of the Global T20 Canada tournament, starting June 28.
His stint with the Winnipeg Hawks in the Canadian league will be followed by his participation in the Northern Territory Strike League in Darwin in July. Warner has committed to playing in two matches, while Cameron Bancroft, the third suspended batsman, will take part in the entire tournament.
Even though the new, billion-dollar CA broadcast-rights deal has ended Nine’s four-decade-long association with Australia’s home summer, the network will broadcast Australia’s 2019 Ashes tours to the UK, along with their limited-overs series on British turf. The arrangement is part of a 2013 deal between Nine and Cricket Australia.
Australia won the two warm-ups against Middlesex and Sussex in the lead up to the five-match ODI series which will be followed by a T20I in Birmingham.
