I f David Warner had thrown his ill-timed punch against Joe Root in Australia, instead of an Australia-themed bar, things could have been different. Because Australian cricketers don’t make many mistakes at home.
In 2013 Warner was this incredible force of nature. He was nicknamed the bull; you felt Australian cricket strapping itself in for a rodeo ride on his back. It was never going to be a smooth ride: Warner was feisty on the field, as well as off it. He was as loose in his behaviour as he was outside off stump. It almost seemed fitting that the franchise star caught got in a franchise bar. Here was the marquee player, the one that Cricket Australia had pushed the hardest, and was now missing Ashes Tests because of his behaviour. The more significant problem would turn out to be not the punch, but that, to use Australian misogynist sports vernacular, at home Warner played like Tarzan, on the road he played like Jane.