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David Warner reveals how wife Candice transformed his erratic training syle

Warner Candice
by Wisden Staff 2 minute read

Australia opener David Warner has revealed how wife Candice played a key role in his transformation into a world-class batsman by bringing discipline into his previously erratic lifestyle.

In a chat show with reputed journalist Harsha Bhogle on Cricbuzz, Warner acknowledged that growing up, one thing that was missing in him “was the discipline side of things,” and Candice, a retired ironwoman and model, forced him into adopting a systematic way of living. The two started dating in 2013, and got married two years later.

“Not being rude, but I never used to listen to many people, except my parents,” Warner said. “But when Candice came into my life, as an athlete herself, she was like, ‘Why would you drink a day before a game? Why would you contemplate staying awake after midnight, or why would you not train today?’

“There was no rest for her, no alcohol. Anything that ever hindered her sport, she was like, ‘You’re not an athlete, how can you do that?’

“[Candice was] Up at 5 o’clock in the morning to go and train. I was like, ‘We don’t play cricket at 5 am, we play cricket at 8 o’clock at night.

“But the beauty of it was she was teaching me discipline, and I think that’s what was missing from my youth, coming through the cricket system, was the discipline side of things. From there, I got up at 4.30 am, I trained, I did it for at least 10 weeks, and it completely changed me.

The change started reflecting in his cricket, as Warner had a bumper 2014 and 2015 in Test cricket, scoring 1,000+ runs in both those years, and turning a new leaf in his ODI career, averaging 54.33, 63.09 and 57.58 from 2015-2017.

“I saw cricket and I saw my life from a different perspective, and it just grew and grew and grew, and I haven’t look back since.”

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