David Warner arrives to a press conference accompanied by his wife Candice in Sydney
Former Australia vice-captain David Warner's wife Candice has called for sympathy and patience from fans around the world, saying the batsman has been struggling to cope with the fallout following the ball-tampering scandal during the Cape Town Test. The 31-year old appeared distraught and isolated after being banned by Cricket Australia for 12 months for developing the plot in the tampering fiasco. As per CA, Warner told opener Cameron Bancroft and instructed him to carry out the cheating on the field.
During a press conference on Saturday, Warner evaded questions about whether the ball-tampering incident was his idea, whether it was the first time, who else was aware of it and whether he had been made a scapegoat.
“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,” Candice Warner told Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph.
Earlier, the 31-year-old Aussie opener spoke of his fear that he would never get to represent Australia again as his wife watched on. The four-match Test series was already in news for all the wrong reasons 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.
Taking all the blame on herself, former Australia opener David Warner's wife Candice has taken the blame on herself for her husband's involvement in the ball-tampering scandal during the Cape Town Test against South Africa. The whole fiasco has put the Australian cricket in crisis with the bans of former captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and opener Cameron Bancroft for their alleged involvement.
“I feel like it’s all my fault and it’s killing me – it’s absolutely killing me,” Candice added.
Candice also iterated the fact that she is not defending her husband’s involvement in the row and his on-field behaviour 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 further added.
“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.
The former Australia ironwoman claimed that she was taunted by South African fans for an alleged tryst with New Zealand rugby star Sonny Bill Williams in 2007 which ultimately took its toll on his husband's state of mind.
“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.”
