Darren Lehmann: David Warner (left) will carry on as “vice-captain of the Australian cricket team”
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
Australia head coach Darren Lehmann has made it clear that David Warner will keep hold of the Test vice-captaincy.
Lehmann’s comments come after Warner had to be restrained by his teammates while trying to confront South Africa wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock.
The entire incident, which occurred while the players were going up the steps for the scheduled tea intervals on the fourth day of the first Test in Durban, was caught on CCTV and has spread like wildfire within the cricketing community.
Reports claim that De Kock made derogatory comments about Warner’s wife Candice, while the Australian vice-captain supposedly made disparaging remarks about De Kock’s family and called the 25-year-old a “bush pig”.
De Kock’s sister, Dalean, even took aim at Warner on Twitter, saying: “Wtf (what the f**k) ! I’ll hurt you @davidwarner31.”
Wtf ! I’ll hurt you @davidwarner31 https://t.co/jdKx5QujFk
— Dalean De Kock (@DayDekock) March 5, 2018
Despite everything that has happened, Lehmann reiterated that Warner will continue on as vice-captain and added that the Australian team are supporting him.
“He’s vice-captain of the Australian cricket team,” Lehmann was quoted as saying by Reuters. “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.”
Australia won the first Test by 118 runs and will be looking to extend their lead in the second Test, which begins on Friday in Port Elizabeth.