LONDON – David Warner will continue as Australia vice-captain despite his involvement in a heated exchange in the first Test against South Africa at Kingsmead, an incident which has drawn condemnation and put his fiery personality back in the spotlight.
“He’s vice-captain of the Australian cricket team,” coach Darren Lehmann told reporters as the team prepared to move to Port Elizabeth for the second Test after the side claimed the opener of the four-match series by 118 runs on Monday.
“We’re certainly supporting David. We want to play a way that gets us success and for us we’ve just got to make sure we don’t cross the line, that’s the key.
“There are things that cross the line and evoke emotion and you’ve got to deal with that behind closed doors and get better at that. Everyone has their own opinion. We’ll just wait and see what happens moving forward, how both teams want to play it. For us, we’re here to win the series. It’s going to be a bloody tough series as we’ve seen over the five days here.”
Footage of Warner being restrained by teammates in an off-field fracas with SA’s Quinton de Kock on Sunday has been viewed dimly in Australia, and he has been slapped with an ICC sanction for his part in the ugly incident.
Lehmann expects the captains and coaches from both sides to get together to clear the air before the second Test starts at St George’s Park on Friday.