Australian captain Michael Clarke has said that he is confident that opener David Warner will reform, adding that he hoped that the altercation with England batsman Joe Root in a Birmingham bar will be Warner's last indiscretion.
Warner has pleaded guilty to unbecoming conduct at a Cricket Australia (CA) hearing on Thursday, and was fined 11,500 dollars and suspended from cricket until the first Test of the Ashes, just three weeks after he was fined nearly six thousand dollars for abusing two Australian journalists on Twitter, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
However, Clarke maintained that Warner, who was a vice-captain candidate for Australia a matter of months ago, still has leadership potential in him despite his growing rap sheet of off-field indiscretions, although he added that it was far from the right time to be singing Warner's praises.
Stating that Warner is not the first athlete to make an error of judgement, Clarke, however, said that it is up to Warner to prove that he can be trusted, adding that this is also an opportunity for the opening batsman to show that this is not what he says, it is what he does.
According to Clarke, Warner will learn a valuable lesson from this incident, which will make him a better person and an improved player, although he added that people needed to respect the fact that players also have to face some tough days in their lives.
Stating that he was part of the leadership group that stood Warner down for Wednesday's ICC Champions Trophy match, Clarke, however added that the code of conduct hearing took the matter out of his hands.
Meanwhile, Clarke defended the management of the Australian cricket team, saying that the team culture is improving despite an issue on the last Test tour to India where four players were stood down from the fourth Test for failing to do their homework.
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Although he admitted that Warner's punishment is quite harsh, the skipper said that he has to face such realities while he is playing for the Australian team, adding that the for a proper team culture, the players need to make sure that they do the right things.
Warner will not play again in the Champions Trophy tournament and will sit out the two tour games that precede the first Ashes Test at Trent Bridge on July 10, the report added.
