David Warner turns commentator for Channel Nine
Serving a one year ban from the Australian cricket team as a part of remuneration for his involvement in the ball-tampering saga in South Africa earlier this year, David Warner is set to get involved in international cricket next week, albeit as a commentator for Channel Nine.
The left-handed opener has been roped in by Australia's oldest and the world-renowned broadcasters to opine his thoughts on the five-match one-day series between the rival countries Australia and England on the latter's turf and a one-off T20I to cap off the tour.
"Dave is the best one-day and T20 batsman of the past decade so he's perfectly placed to join our coverage for the UK series," Channel Nine's director of sports Tom Malone said.
"People have tried to paint Dave as the villain in all this, but he's been hurting as much as the others," said Malone putting an apparently out-of-proportion reaction from the general public into an appropriate perspective.
"We've had a professional relationship with Dave for five years now. We've always found him to be a pretty normal and humble bloke. He just wants to atone for his mistakes and move on - I hope Australia gives all of them that chance."
Over the sphere of numerous changes that have overtaken Australian cricket by the end of this summer, a major one of them has been Nine's relinquishing of the broadcast rights of home matches, after an association that lasted forty years and became etched into public memory as the very part of the cricket that was played.
As iconic was Steve Waugh's last ball ton at the SCG in 2003, equally iconic were the words of Richie Benaud and Mark Nicholas that captured the moment.
The commentary stint will be Warner's immediate assignment right before he goes off to Canada to represent the franchise Winnipeg Hawks in the Global T20 Tournament, after which he will turn up in the Northern Territory Strike League in Darwin in July, along with fellow banned batsman Cameron Bancroft.