David Warner will speak with the Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland and hopes he can win over "the boss" as he has done the selectors and the board to
become Steven Smith's vice-captain.
In the lead-up to the appointments of Smith and Warner, Sutherland had struck a notably lukewarm note about the vice-captain's leadership credentials. "I don't think that's necessarily an obvious next step," Sutherland had said in response to questions about whether Warner was an obvious candidate to be Smith's vice-captain.
It was Sutherland who spoke out most staunchly to decry Warner's behaviour on the previous Ashes tour, describing the punch he swung at Joe Root as
"a despicable thing" and offering stern warnings about the opening batsman's future if he did not improve. Warner said he would speak with Sutherland at the next available opportunity and said he respected the chief executive's opinion.
"He's our boss and I have to respect what he says," Warner said. "But the board obviously approved me being vice-captain and I thank them for their support, trust and faith in myself to be under Steve and help Steve as much as I can with my knowledge of the game. We've still got a whole squad here and we see them all as leaders in their own right. James hasn't been in touch. I'm sure I'll get to speak to him at some stage.
"It's definitely a massive honour and a boyhood dream just to first to get your baggy green but to be recognised as a leader within the group and being named vice captain is obviously a massive thrill for myself and I know my family as well. Obviously it's a tag that I'm going to have to live with day by day now. It's an added responsibility and I'll be doing everything I can to help Steve on the field and off the field.
"I think the past 12-18 months I've shown how much I've matured. I've got a young family, I recently got married, I'm enjoying my off-field and I'm thoroughly enjoying my on-field performances as well. So for me it's about me trying to help Steve as much as we can driving this team forward for the next five to 10 years."
Warner's persona has been an evolving one, both on the field and away from the game. He has been working to find a middle ground between the aggressor and agent provocateur he has been in the past and the leader he must now become. He also spoke for how hard the team had worked and would continue to work under the new leadership duo.
"I'll still give the banter [within the squad]. Obviously in our team we sometimes we are serious, sometimes we do joke around a lot," he said. "Each team needs a few characters and I see myself as being that character sometimes, and I will probably try and continue to be that funny person.
"I think the way that I've been . . . a lot of my energy has gone on the field, and a lot of hard work has been going on in the nets as well. I don't just speak for myself, I speak for the whole team. What people don't see and don't understand is how much preparation that goes into these tours. We have had a long tour. We've been on the road for a while. We went to the West Indies and we won there, we've come here and we've been disappointing.
"But we're giving 100% every time we walk out there. Every time we go to training our preparation is outstanding. You can't fault anyone for their preparation ... we've been beaten by a better team at the moment. We've got one Test to go and we're going out there trying to prove what we're actually capable of."
One thing Warner will not be able to do quite so often is get into verbal battles in the middle, and he said he would now be devoting far more of his energy to working alongside Smith in finding tactical solutions. "Now, with a bit more responsibility, I'll be trying to help Steve as much as I can," he said.
"You're going to see a lot more work put in on the field. It's not about sledging. It's about encouraging your bowlers and getting into the mind of the batters. We just have to be smart when we're out there and to concentrate on what's ahead, and that's the game. That's the most important thing.
"I know what comes with being a captain, we've seen it in the past under our previous leaders - how much time it does take out of your day. So for me it's about helping Steve to lead this team from the front and take some of those responsibilities off him. I think a lot of that will probably be done at training and off the field, so he can control what's going on on the field."
