David Warner ordered to play grade cricket

David Warner has been served with a one-match suspension by New South Wales and has been ordered to play three grade matches for his club Randwick Petersham after skipping their most recent fixture and attending a private training session and an afternoon at the races.

Warner was ruled out of the first two Ashes Tests earlier this year for punching England batsman Joe Root in a Birmingham bar.

After meeting with NSW chief executive Andrew Jones, Warner said, “I believed I was doing the right thing by focusing on my training and batting, but in hindsight I should have played. I remain determined to score runs for NSW and Australia and am also looking forward to taking the field for Randy-Petes this round. “

“This has been an unfortunate episode,” Jones said. “Like most cricket fans, I and all at Cricket NSW would like nothing more than to see David Warner achieve his potential on and off the field. However, in order to do this David needs to ensure that he is doing the right things and working closely with the organisation in all areas. We believe the suspended sentence demonstrates our good faith and gives David the opportunity to prove his commitment to NSW’s fans and stakeholders, including the Grade clubs. We are hopeful that this is the last incident of this nature so that David and Cricket NSW can focus solely on cricket for the remainder of the season.”

David Warner has been struggling to find his lost form, having recorded an innings of four and a duck in the Blues’ two limited overs matches so far.