Degraded Australia former vice-captain David Warner’s wife Candice had blamed herself for his part in the ball-tampering scandal, adding that the taunts they faced in South Africa took a huge toll. Warner was banned from International and domestic cricket by Cricket Australia following his main role in ball tampering incident against South Africa in third test at Newlands, Cape Town.
In a tearful press conference in Sydney yesterday, the 31-year-old spoke of his fear that he would never get to represent Australia again as his wife watched on.
Related: Video: Tearful David Warner resigned to never play for Australia again
“I feel like it’s all my fault and it’s killing me — it’s absolutely killing me,” Candice Warner told Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph.
The Test series was already fractious before the ball-tampering affair, with a row between David Warner and Quinton de Kock during the first Test which the Australian said was sparked when the South African insulted his wife.
Two senior Cricket South Africa officials were also photographed with three spectators wearing All Black rugby player Sonny Bill Williams face masks during the second Test in reference to a reported intimate encounter Candice Warner had with him in 2007 before she met Warner.
Candice Warner said she was not making excuses for her husband’s behaviour over the scandal but added that he was “protecting me as much as he could and protecting the girls (their children)”.
“But Dave would come home from the game and see me in tears in the bedroom, and the girls just looking at their mum, it’s been heartbreaking,” she said.
“When we were in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, Dave would come home and, yes, I always put on a strong front and I turn out to the games.
“But seeing them wearing the masks, to have people staring and pointing and laughing at me, to have the signs, to have, you know, the songs made up about me, I would have to sit there and cop that.”
Candice Warner also called for sympathy and patience from Australian fans, saying the batsman was struggling to cope with the fallout.
“I’m sure there were things he wanted to say but he just couldn’t get it out. He is hurting. He is seriously, seriously struggling and he’s not in a great headspace,” she said
(PTI Feed)
