Former England captain Michael Vaughan says Australia batsman David Warner must have a “screw loose” for punching England rival Joe Root a month out from an Ashes series.
The current England skipper has also come out in support of Root, with Alastair Cook defending his teammate’s right to party at 2am during a major tournament.
Vaughan said Warner’s unprovoked attack on Root in a Birmingham bar last weekend had “tarnished the whole Australia cricket team” by ensuring the storm of uncertainty surrounding their Ashes prospects turned into a tornado.
“I’m all for players relaxing and having fun. But to go and punch an opposing player unprovoked in a bar, you’ve got to have some kind of screw loose to do that,” Vaughan told BBC Sport.
“I can’t believe that an opposing player would want to punch one of the England players and then you find out more about the incident. It was an unprovoked attack.
“The Australian cricket team aren’t in a great state of health as we speak.
“This just makes it that little bit more difficult because we’re all going to be watching them closely. I’m sure there will be people studying them at night to see what they’re up to and I’m sure it’s going to be one difficult summer for them.
“Unfortunately David Warner has tarnished the whole Australia cricket team. People are talking about him but the whole network, structure, captain, management, supporters, are all tarred with the same brush because of what that one individual has done to the team.”
Another former England skipper Andrew Flintoff tweeted that staying for the Ashes would be more appropriate punishment for Warner.
“I think the only punishment fitting for davidwarner31 is to make him play in the Ashes ! Banning him is letting him off #5-0” Flintoff wrote.
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