Add Category
Posted
As that great all-rounder Kenny Rogers (he mastered both country and western) says: You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away and know when to run.
Maybe that is what David Warner was thinking when he walked from the ground during a Sydney first-grade match between Randwick-Petersham and Western Suburbs on Saturday afternoon, his wicket still intact but his feelings wounded.
There is understandable speculation about what Jason Hughes, brother of the late Phillip Hughes, said that so offended Warner he chose to walk away when he should have been scoring runs.
Several versions have surfaced and Jason Hughes' club Wests released a statement denying Phillip Hughes was explicitly mentioned on the field.
But it is safe to say the lingering bitterness and recrimination that marked the aftermath of Phillip Hughes's death was at play.
You could therefore extrapolate that, far beyond the predictable sledging Warner will cop after Australia's use of sandpaper in South Africa — "Did you bring back a sausage from Bunnings mate!" — any reference to Hughes's death, particularly from a family member, would evoke a deeply emotional response.
So much so that it has been suggested that, in heeding Kenny Rogers' advice and removing himself from the fray instead of returning fire, Warner was something of a hero.
After all, how do you respond to the anger of the still grieving brother of a former teammate lost in such intensely tragic circumstances?
What has Warner, still a national villain in some eyes, got to gain by defending himself or even standing his ground?
The answer is nothing. This, for once, was not an encounter the fabulously talented Warner could bludgeon to his will.
Yet surely a man who has failed such a widely publicised test of temperament as he and his teammates did in South Africa should have known his best recourse was not to abandon the game, but to this time stick rigidly to its conventions.
As emotional as the situation must have been, Warner had the option of taking his complaint to the umpire and in turn the opposition captain.
His melodramatic walk-off might have temporarily defused tensions, yet it inevitably shone an even brighter light on the incident and left him open to the obvious accusation of hypocrisy.
Candice Warner explained her husband's motivation on Channel Nine: "He left the field because first of all he didn't like what he was hearing and where that could have been taken. It was hurtful, very hurtful."
Warner clearly decided that Jason Hughes had — to use a phrase we hoped to avoid this season — "crossed the line".
But when Warner was Australia's sledging attack dog, how often did his victims feel the borders around their own personal boundaries of respect and fair play had been invaded?
This is not to rob Warner of his right to the same protection from the most vile sledging or emotion-charged attack that any other player might enjoy (which, by the way, has been far too little).
Regardless of your opinion of their actions, or even their character, no one could argue Warner, his former captain Steve Smith and opening batsman Cameron Bancroft were let off lightly for their misdeeds in South Africa.
Some are now even lobbying to have their suspensions lifted. Although they are perhaps forgetting that it was not the offence of flagrant ball-tampering alone that resulted in a one-year ban but the shoddy cover-up that followed.
Yet even allowing for the emotional duress Warner felt, to retreat to the sheds was to take sanctuary that has not been given to others and which is not normally afforded under the rules of the game.
Of course the saddest part of Warner's walk-off was that it brought to the surface the lingering ill-feeling that stemmed from the aftermath of Phillip Hughes's death.
The pain of the Hughes family was stripped bare at the coronial inquest and clearly the multiple wounds created by a tragedy played out in the public spotlight have not healed.
From the Hughes family, there has been an ongoing discomfort about the evidence given at the inquest and some of the expressions of public grief; a feeling they have been written out of the public story of their own son and brother's death while others took the stage.
Meanwhile, even for Cricket Australia the ramifications of the tragedy continue in administrative issues such as attempting to enforce mandatory helmet regulations on still-reluctant local associations.
CA continues to address another far less tragic but equally problematical issue on Monday when it releases the findings of an inquiry into the South African ball-tampering affair.
The most fascinating element will be whether the report finds that, as some have strongly argued, the ball tampering in Cape Town was the result of institutional or cultural failings. Not merely the bungling heat-of-the-moment plot of a few tired and desperate players.
Yet despite the inevitable cry for heads on spikes, it will be Cricket Australia's response to the issue that is of most use to the next generation of players.
The game dictates that, regardless of the circumstances, you take block again and get on with it.
Hopefully, CA won't turn their backs as Warner did and walk away from the recommendations.