David Warner explains why he WON’T sign another contract with Cricket Australia – as he reveals his shocking daily routine before meeting wife Candice
- Warner says he will back out of contract from Cricket Australia
- Says he wants more flexibility in playing white-ball cricket
- Reveals that Candice taught him discipline and better attitude
David Warner has opened up about why he won’t accept a new contract with Cricket Australia – and why meeting his wife Candice has turned his life around and freed him from some shocking habits for a professional athlete.
Warner, 37, has been a key member of the Australian squad since 2011 but plans to retire from Test cricket this summer after the third Test against Pakistan at the SCG.
The Australian side will then play ODI and T20 matches against the West Indies, but Warner will not participate.
However, that doesn’t mean he will retire from all formats as the batting legend is keen to play white-ball cricket in 2025.
Warner says he will turn down a contract from Cricket Australia so he can have more flexibility over where he can play – and spend more time at home with his family.
David Warner wants to continue playing white-ball cricket and says he will not accept a contract from Cricket Australia
The veteran batsmen thank the former Ironwoman champion for turning his life around
“I’m not going to take a contract, certainly not,” Warner told reporters on Thursday.
“How the system works in Australia is if you play five (T20) games or ODIs or three Tests, you get an upgrade and then you’re legally bound to a contract system with sponsors and all that.
“That’s something that’s getting a bit annoying, especially at this stage of my career.
“So I don’t want to be signed to that deal and that’s something I have to think about moving forward because if you get a low contract it’s going to cost you a lot in sponsorship in the long run. ‘
“I have to sit back and look at what the schedule is, the (ICC) Future Tours schedule and there is also a Champions Trophy coming up. So they may be on my horizon.”
Warner says meeting his wife, and former pro Iron Woman, Candice, completely changed his attitude and discipline.
“My biggest motivation is attitude,” he says. ‘That’s something you have control over. You can control the posture. It’s about how you wake up in the morning.
‘I woke up between 10 and 11 in the morning before I met Candice. Then my day would start at 2 p.m. This is what my days looked like back then.
Warner says that before he met his wife, he would wake up at 10 or 11 in the morning, but Candice’s discipline and attitude disappeared.
Warner wants to spend more time with his family as his career comes to an end
‘Candice came into my life. I thought she was crazy, getting up at four in the morning and going to training, like being in the water at six in the morning, that’s not ideal.
‘Then I started working out at 6am, went to the gym, and then suddenly it was 7.30am and I thought, “It’s actually great. Gosh, it’s refreshing.”
‘Her discipline and attitude changed my way of thinking about what to do. That was a system I had to put in place. Work hard, train hard and the reward will come.
‘It’s not by chance that I got opportunities. It was through hard work and dedication to what I had to do.
“Just get my body into the right physique. You should have seen me. I was much bigger than what I am now. I was much more powerful, but I wasn’t in the physique where you go as if he were a professional cricketer in the modern game. For me I just had to work hard and that was a matter of attitude.’