New South Wales captain Moises Henriques says some of the character assessments placed upon David Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft are “out of line” in the fallout of the ball-tampering saga.
While acknowledging the trio did the wrong thing in South Africa, Henriques took a more sympathetic view on the situation.
“I’m not condoning ball tampering at any stage but I’m just saying this to hold a slightly different perspective,” he told SEN’s Whateley.
“It’s not okay to cheat or ball tamper, but to realise that David doesn’t ball tamper so he scores more runs, he doesn’t do it for his own personal statistical gain, or whatever it was, and Bancroft is the same.
“It’s the batters that are all involved here and they’re not cheating for themselves and they’re not breaking their rules for their own personal statistical gain so they can average 50 instead of 40 or whatever it might be.
Dave Warner was the player’s most vocal voice during MOU negotiations, copping it from many. Now, ‘caught ball tampering’ trying to selflessly advantage the fast bowling unit - not for his own stats or personal gain. Rightly punished... but he’s a team man.
— Moises Henriques (@Mozzie21) April 10, 2018
“They’re doing it for the bowlers. They did the wrong thing but they’re trying to do it so the team wins. They’re not fixing a match where they’re purposely losing the game for their own financial gain or anything like that.
“I think there is a bit of grey area in terms of the character of these people. They’ve broken the rules, been punished, and so they should be.
“Some of the comments about their character are a little bit out of line.”
Henriques also added Warner isn’t selfish, saying he was “fighting for all cricketers” during the pay dispute, explaining the former vice-captain had opportunities to get more money for himself, instead of fighting for the rights of lower grade players.