ZCZC
BSP-03
CRICKET-AUS-WARNER
Hurt Warner ‘sledged by Phil Hughes’ brother’
SYDNEY, Oct 28, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – David Warner’s decision to walk off mid-
innings in a Sydney grade game was sparked by comments from the brother of
his former Test teammate Phillip Hughes, who died in 2014 after being hit by
a ball, reports said Sunday.
The former Australia vice-captain, who is serving a 12-month ban from
international and state cricket for his role in a ball-tampering scandal, was
batting for his club Randwick-Petersham at the time on Saturday.
He left the field but returned shortly afterwards following the
intervention of teammates, and went on to score a majestic 157.
Cricket Australia’s website said the fielder involved was Jason Hughes —
the brother of Warner’s former Test teammate Phillip, whose tragic death
rocked the sporting world.
It claimed that what started as goading from Hughes soon turned personal
and Warner — who has a fierce on-field reputation — decided to leave before
it escalated.
Sydney’s Daily Telegraph alleged that Hughes called Warner “a disgrace”
and “weak”.
It claimed one witness heard a direct reference to Phillip Hughes’s death
and Warner was “considerably hurt” by the incident.
Neither Hughes nor Warner has made any comment.
“He felt what had been said was very offensive to him but he realised that
he had to play. He turned around and back out he went,” Randwick-Petersham
first-grade manager Bill Anderson told the newspaper.
“He wasn’t teary. But you could tell he had been quite affected by that.
It wasn’t a heated exchange. It was something said in close range.”
Warner was fielding on November 25, 2014, when Phillip Hughes was struck
by a bouncer bowled by Sean Abbott during a Sheffield Shield match at the
Sydney Cricket Ground.
Hughes, 25, later died from bleeding on the brain, sparking an outpouring
of grief.
At the inquest, Warner said Hughes had been one of his “closest mates” and
he missed him every day.
Warner, along with Steve Smith, was sent home in disgrace and banned over
the tampering scandal during the third Test in South Africa in March.
He was blamed as the instigator of the incident in which Cameron Bancroft
attempted to alter the ball with a piece of yellow sandpaper.
Two reviews prompted by the scandal — one focusing on the culture within
Cricket Australia and the other into the team — are due to be released on
Monday.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0910 hrs