David Warner soon to feature in the NT Strike League for the City Cyclones

What's the story?

After all the ball-tampering mayhem whose dust has still not settled, Aussie opener David Warner had found himself out-of-place in the sport after receiving bans from International cricket and the Indian Premier League (IPL), until he was able to seek redemption in other cricketing leagues like the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and the Global T20 Canada. However, the player is all set to make his return to his home soil as he has been drafted to play in the Northern Territory's Strike League.

In case you didn't know

In March, as Australia toured South Africa for a Test-series, the matches came to news for all the wrong reasons as Australia's then-captain Steven Smith, vice-captain David Warner and young opener Cameron Bancroft were found guilty of ball-tampering, with television cameras picking up all the action live. Smith and Warner were stripped of their duties as captain and vice-captain and granted an exile from International Cricket and all competitions hosted by Cricket Australia for a year. This was followed by bans from the 2018 IPL season as well.

As other cricket leagues imposed no such restrictions, Warner was able to join St. Lucia stars in the CPL and the Winnipeg Hawks in the GT20C, while Smith also played in the latter for a different team, the Toronto Nationals.

The details

David Warner will play two matches this weekend in the Northern Territory’s Strike League. He has reportedly reached an agreement with the City Cyclones to play for the team in the tournament. The left-handed opening batsman will make his tournament debut against Northern Tide at Marrara on Saturday, before facing Cameron Bancroft’s Desert Blaze on Sunday.

Local press and media report that Warner has already arrived at the entry on Thursday.

Cameron Bancroft, who was imposed with a lesser sentence than Smith or Warner - a nine-month exile, has already featured in six matches in the NT Strike tournament, scoring 155 runs at an average of 25.80. The exiled Test opener failed to reach a collective sum of 10 in his first three outings but has found recent form with two half-centuries in his past three innings.

What's next

In the recently concluded edition of the GT20C, Warner was not able to impress much for the Winnipeg Hawks as he averaged just 13 across eight games, falling for single-digit scores six times. It is with these numbers that he will now go on and ply his trade at the NT Strike League. Despite being a bit out-of-form and out-of-touch as a batsman, he will continue to be a force for the City Cyclones.