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Sutherland was fuming about the events that occurred at the Walkabout bar
Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland has finally broken his silence over the David Warner controversy, branding the opening batsman’s behaviour as “despicable”.
Sutherland noted that Warner should consider himself lucky to still be a part of Australia’s Ashes squad, given the severity of his bar brawl antics.
The chief executive also slammed the team management for letting the event unfold and questioned why Warner and a number of other Australian players had been drinking during the early hours of June 9.
Sutherland, who is known for his calm perspective during controversies, was absolutely seething during the press conference.
He mentioned that Warner’s public apology for punching England’s Joe Root did not mean anything and added that there was no reason for Warner to launch a brutal attack on an opposing player.
As a result of Warner’s fists of rage, Sutherland feels as if the opening batsman has let “the game, his team and his team-mates down”.
“David Warner has done a despicable thing,” Sutherland said. “But I also hold the team to account here. There were other people there with him and those that were there need to take responsibility for that, but so does the team as a whole and the team management group as a whole.
“There is no place for violence anywhere and I’m extremely disappointed in that. I’m extremely disappointed in him and I have told him that … There were certain things that led to this situation that happened, as I understand it, at 2.30 in the morning. There’s not a lot of good that happens at 2.30 in the morning in a pub or a nightclub. I believe that the team as a whole and the people who were around him at the time also need to take responsibility for what happened.”
Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Wade, Glenn Maxwell, Phillip Hughes and Clint McKay were also reported to have been at the Walkabout bar in Birmingham at the time of the altercation.
Australia’s stand-in captain George Bailey earlier stated that the situation had been “a minor incident” and that it had been dealt with in-house.
However, while Bailey may have found the brutish attack to be “minor”, Cricket Australia’s Code of Behaviour commissioner Gordon Lewis, who is a retired County Court judge, thought otherwise as he slapped a A$11,500 fine on the 26-year-old and suspended him till the first Ashes Test on July 10 at Trent Bridge, Nottingham.
Lewis came up with Warner’s punishment independently and Sutherland was quick to voice his agreement with it.
“I think he’s very lucky,” Sutherland said. “It could have been a lot worse, couldn’t it? It should never have got to that and as it stands, yes, he is lucky to be available for selection … Cricket people know it’s going to be very, very hard for David Warner to get selected for the first Test match. He can’t play cricket until the first Test match starts.
“I note that overnight he has made comments apologising for what he has done and expressing remorse for his actions. That’s all well and good. It counts for a little bit, but not much. What really counts is his actions going forward in the future, and we’re watching those very closely.”
With Warner continuing to appear in the media as some out-of-control brute, who is incapable of keeping his emotions in check, Sutherland noted that the 26-year-old should be wary of the path his career his heading towards if this sort of behaviour continues to persist.
“There is no excuse for what happened on Saturday night,” he said. “I don’t care what explanations people might want to put up, there is no place for violence in society and there is no place for Australian cricketers to be finding themselves in that position.”