Candice Warner has admitted she’s “not so sad” after her husband and cricket great David ended his Test and ODI cricket career at the SCG on Saturday afternoon.
Warner hit 57 before he was dismissed just 11 runs short of Australia wrapping up its series whitewash in an eight-wicket win over Pakistan.
The retiring opener departed the field in Test whites for the final time to a standing ovation, soaking in the admiration of his home crowd.
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It was a nice way to finish for the often divisive star who has found himself at the centre of controversy throughout his career, most infamously for his role in the 2018 Cape Town sandpaper scandal.
It saw him sidelined for a year and barred from holding a leadership position but also saw him followed by vitriolic criticism, particularly on social media.
Candice, who has been married to David since 2015, spoke to The Sunday Telegraph about her husband’s retirement.
Asked about comparisons to English football legend David Beckham and former Spice Girl turned fashion mogul Victoria Beckham’s marriage, Warner admitted they didn’t have quite the spotlight of Posh and Becks but still had plenty to deal with.
“He cops it more than anyone I know,” Candice said of her husband.
“When he’s away the crowd can be so much, and there’s people giving it to him on social media, the media itself.
“But he deals with it in a way that I’ve actually never seen anyone deal with it.
“He never makes excuses. He never says it’s all getting too much. He just cracks on.
“And I take my hat off to him for that because he is a warrior.”
Candice, herself a former Ironwoman turned author and broadcaster, had her own high profile dramas, recently opening up on her infamous 2007 incident with Sonny Bill Williams at the Clovelly Hotel in Sydney.
She said the pair managed the intense scrutiny by simply being together as a family unit.
“Sometimes the hate from the crowd has been intense,” she said.
“Having that, that’s why when you come home that’s your sanctuary. And for us, home is so important because it’s just our escape from the world.
“Sometimes it hasn’t been easy. Sometimes it has taken a lot of courage to front people or to just walk outside the house.
“But David and myself, we are very resilient. We’re strong.
“It’s something that is just within us and I see it in the girls now, just their inner strength and their resilience.
“And I think that’s one of the things that I’m most proud of with David’s career.
“When I’m thinking about his retiring, it’s not so sad.
“I say to him: ‘There were tough times and you made it. Your back was against the wall on so many occasions’.
“And I think if other players or other people were in the same situations, I’m not sure if they would have been able to push through and break that wall down.”
Now he’s retired from all but the shortest form of cricket, Candice also revealed what her husband’s next year will look like.
Set to play in the US and Dubai in coming months, Warner will also take up a commentary role with Fox Sports, while there is also a book in the pipeline.
Candice said there won’t be too much change to the next few months with some commitments still on Warner’s plate, but he will have more time to spend with his three daughters Ivy, 9, Indi, 7 and Isla, 4.
“It will be that back end of the year where there isn’t as much cricket where we’ll get that quality family time, when David will be able to take the girls to cricket, take the girls to soccer on a Sunday,” Candice said.
“All those things that some adults say they don’t want to do, but he’s never had that chance to do any of those things because he’s always been away playing.
“It might not seem like much, but when you’re such a hands-on father and you want to be there for everything, it’s been difficult for David not being able to be there for the girls.
“It’s magic. And the girls just absolutely love when their dad’s home and he gets to pick them up from school, the little things like them running up to David with their big backpacks on and they just give you the big cuddle and talk about the day.
“That’s what I know he’s looking forward to.”
But even when his playing days are done, Warner is unlikely to be lost to cricket, revealing to reporters on Saturday that coaching may be in his future “later down the track”.
“Yeah, I’ve got ambitions later down the track to potentially coach; I’ll have to speak with the wife first to see if I’m allowed a few more days away,” Warner laughed.
“When I came into the team, the way that I went about it on the field was to get in people’s faces, to upset them and to get them off their rhythm when they’re batting. I was moulded into being that person.
“From my perspective, I felt that I could still give the same energy on the field without actually having to get into that battle with the opposition.
“When I first came in, I didn’t understand the nature of playing the opposition, because I didn’t know who they were, so I was never going to have to sit down with them and have a beer and get to know them, because it wasn’t like that back then.
“I’ve changed a lot of other people’s opinions as well those I’ve played with and have gone at … they’ve totally changed their opinion of me as well, which is the nature of what cricket is about.”
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