David Warner’s sudden absence from his TV commentary duties on Sunday has been put down to a “family commitment”.
Warner — who is again in the eye of the resurfaced Sandpaper-gate hurricane — was surprisingly missing from the coverage of today’s second ODI between Australia and England at Adelaide Oval.
But Fox Sports managing director Steve Crawley has explained the absence, saying: “Dave went home from Perth to Sydney for a family commitment last night. He will be back on Fox Cricket Wednesday in Hobart for the third ODI.”
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Not seen but still heard, Warner returned to Instagram on Sunday to take another shot at cricket Australia and the investigation of 2018.
On Saturday Warner called the investigation “shoddy” and a “cover-up”, and said, “as far as I am aware, CA did not interview Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc or Nathan Lyon in their 2018 investigation”.
“If that’s correct, then how can CA push the idea that the bowlers didn’t know?” he asked.
On Sunday, he moved to clarify his point.
“Just to clarify, ‘As far as I am aware’ was the POINT,” he said.
“I was never told the bowlers had been interviewed or provided statements.
“That information would’ve been pretty useful when I was forced to make decisions back in 2018. Why weren’t we given all the evidence by CA?”
Warner argues the original investigation was designed for himself, Steve Smith and Cam Bancroft to cop the full brunt of the blame, something they have lived with for the past eight years.
“Some of the questions were quite challenging in a way that it was being planted on us and we had to move on and accept responsibility, the three for us. And ultimately we did,” Warner said on Friday afternoon.
“The thing for us is we don’t have that opportunity to go there and speak again. (CA chief executive) Todd Greenberg squashed that again the other day. There’s probably going to be more conversations behind the scenes after this.”
Warner also forecast that will continue to speak about it until the truth comes out.
“In time, potentially, it’s inevitable everyone writes a book at the end of their careers. For me it’s about accepting the truth — I just don’t think this will rest,” he said.
“I’m going to respect your comments about moving on but it’s very, very difficult with accepting the consequences that we live day to day in our lives.”
Cricket Australia says that all players were given the opportunity to speak at the time of the investigation.
“And they have had the ability to come forward with new evidence in the eight years since,” a spokesperson said.
“Subsequently, CA has respected every player and former player’s right to provide their own version of events.”
Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg already ruled out launching a fresh investigation into the saga, but the fallout is far from over.
Pat Cummins says Usman Khawaja is “100 per cent wrong” about the bowlers knowing “sandpaper was going out in the field”.
“But I think Usman actually said things that are more serious. He says that I and others were architects of a scheme to ball tamper with sandpaper — that’s complete and utter nonsense,” Cummins said in an extraordinary press conference on Friday.
“I was genuinely shocked this week that Usman admitted that he told Cam be careful when using sandpaper. That’s not the Usman who I know.
“It’s not the Usman who I think has been part of a team that has helped rebuild Australian cricket culture over the last eight years, and the Usman who would have stopped that from happening.
“Friends aren’t casual with lives and reputations. He’s been casual with my life and many others. We have to be accountable for the things that we say and do.”
