While Australians have locked with screens or gone to grounds for another installation of the footy season, leaders and lanyards from Cricket Australia have been quietly war-gaming the small matter of the sport’s future and their fragile place in it. But the scent of blossoming wattle in the cool morning air means that spring has arrived; footy is soon over, cricket will soon be here and Australians are asking: why are we talking about David Warner as captain?
Obviously, these things cannot be answered exclusively through a sporting prism. Why would we do that when there are social, political, broadcast, entertainment, geopolitical, historic and economic interests to overlay it with, too? Sure, there is a white-ball vacancy and he is Australia’s best and most experienced player, an admired tactician and respected senior figure among his teammates. But on the other hand, wasn’t he banned for life from leadership positions for that thing? And what’s he like as a bloke?
