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David Warner breaks down in tearful apology over cricket ball tampering

David Warner broke down in tears on air. Source: Channel 9.

David Warner broke down in tears and struggled to speak as he made a series of heartfelt apologies for his role in the ball tampering scandal currently rocking Australian cricket.

The former vice captain, 31, admitted he has resigned himself to the fact he may never be able to play cricket for his country again, before issuing an emotional apology to his wife and children in Sydney on Saturday.

“Most important now is the wellbeing of my family,” he told reporters, while fighting back tears. “In the back of my mind, there’s a tiny ray of hope that I may one day play for my country again but I’m resigned to the fact that might never happen.”

He issued apologies to the cricket team, his teammates, South Africa and his loyal fans.

“To the fans and the lovers of the game, who have supported and inspired me on my journey as a cricketer, I want to sincerely apologise for betraying your trust in me,” Warner said. “I have let you down badly. I hope in time I can find a way to repay you for all you have given me and possibly earn your respect again.”

He insisted he has “full respect” for the current review into the culture of the Australian cricket team, and added to South Africa: “[We] brought the game into disrespute on your soil. You deserved better from your guests, and deserved better from me.”

Apologising again for the impact his actions have had “on Australia’s reputation”, he said: “I’ve only ever wanted to bring glory to my country through cricket.”

He added of the huge error: “It’s one I’ll regret for as long as I live.”

Admitting he’s finding it “heartbreaking” not to be joining the rest of his team now, he said he plans to take time to “look at myself as a man” and gain expert help “to help me make serious changes”.

He concluded: “I want to apologise to my family, especially my wife and daughters, your love means more than anything to me. I know I would not be anything without you. I’m very sorry for putting you through this, and I promise I’ll never put you in this position again.”

As a reporter shouted to him at the end, asking whose idea it was, Warner declined to answer as he walked out.

Warner was accompanied by his tearful wife and children as he landed back in Australia earlier this week, but remained quiet on the scandal at the time – insisting he needed to get his children to bed.

It comes after player Cameron Bancroft was caught last Saturday in South Africa attempting to alter the condition of the cricket ball by rubbing one side of it with sandpaper he had hidden in his trousers. An investigation by Cricket Australia found that just three people – Bancroft, former Australian cricket captain Steve Smith and vice-captain Warner – knew of the plan, and that Warner had been the driving force behind it.

So far, the cricketing body has sent home all three from South Africa in disgrace and handed Smith and Warner 12-month bans from international cricket. Bancroft was given a nine-month ban. And on Thursday night, Australian test team coach Darren Lehmann said he would step down at the end of the fourth test against South Africa to allow the team to move forward from the scandal, although he reiterated that, as Cricket Australia’s probe found, he knew nothing of the plan to tamper with the ball.

Read more: Tearful cricket coach Darren Lehmann quits to save his family from abuse

Smith held an emotional press conference earlier on Thursday night, at which he tearfully apologised to the nation and to his family, saying that his mother and father were devastated by his actions and the furore they had caused. Smith later had support from his father Peter.

The three players faced a gauntlet of media cameras and angry fans when they landed in Sydney airport after flying home from South Africa on Thursday after several days of headlines about the embarrassment they had caused their country, and Lehmann said his family had been subjected to abuse over the scandal.

Read more: Australia’s ‘win at all costs’ approach to cricket is a concern

The players’ actions breached article 2.3.5 of Cricket Australia’s code of conduct because they were contrary to the spirit of the game and brought the game into disrepute, but Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland declined to categorise the ball-tampering as cheating when pressed on the matter on Wednesday.

Ball tampering reportedly isn’t uncommon at all levels of competitive cricket – roughing-up one side of the ball or making the other more slick are ways of making it ‘swing’ in the air when bowled and thus harder for the opposing side to bat against. South Africa’s current test cricket captain, for example, has twice been charged with ball tampering, on one occasion for rubbing it against the zip of his trousers and on another for shining it with a mint.

But Australia’s pride in being a ‘clean’ and sportsmanlike nation has meant that the trio’s behaviour has captured world headlines, with even publications such as The Economist taking an interest in the scandal. So heavy has been the interest in the scandal that Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said she had been approached for foreign ministers from other nations keep to discuss it with her – and she did not shy away from labelling it “cheating”.

“Australia is seen as a country that plays fair, that plays by the rules [and] abides by the rules,” she said this week. “Any attempt to gain an unfair advantage … essentially cheating, is a surprise. I think people were taken aback.”

What do you think of David Warner’s speech?

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