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Warner crowned Sports Dad of the Year

Australia's stand-in captain caps superb year with Father's Day recognition for his off-field role as parent to daughters

In a year when he was crowned Allan Border Medallist as Australia's premier player across all formats and was elevated to the national captaincy, albeit on an interim basis, David Warner has earned recognition for a far more personal and enduring achievement.

The work that he does as father for his and wife Candice's two daughters, Ivy Mae and Indi Rae, that has earned him the title of 2016 Philips Sports Dad of the Year.

And Warner, who led his team to ODI Series win over Sri Lanka with consecutive victories in Dambulla last week, conceded that the influence of his wife (a former professional ironwoman) and the responsibilities of fatherhood have moulded him into a less volatile, more settled character and cricketer.

Australia thrash Sri Lanka to win series

"I think that comes more with having bad days and not being in form," Warner said of the sharper perspective he's gained on life and cricket since becoming a parent in 2014.

"Recently I haven't been scoring as many runs as I would have liked but I come home and I get to FaceTime my children or be with my children and my wife (when they travel with the team), and it's fantastic.

"You look back five, six, seven years and you almost say, 'Could I have had kids earlier to settle me down' or 'Was that the thing that settled me down', and we just don't know that.

"Fatherhood has helped me a lot with my game, and off the field it gives me something always to have as a responsibility.


"I've always dreamed of having kids and I thoroughly enjoy having children, and I think my wife has been a key factor of me being a little bit more tame and humble as I've got older.

"I think she got me into a great routine coming from her sporting background of being an ironwoman, which takes a lot of discipline and strength and courage to do that (sport).

"And upon yourself to get up in the early hours of the morning to start training is a credit to her, and I think that's exactly what modelled me into probably being the person I am today.


"And with the added bonus of having children, I think the responsibility has come a long was as well with that, and I really enjoy that."

Warner, who will this afternoon captain Australia in the fifth and final game of the ODI series against Sri Lanka in which his team already holds an unassailable 3-1 lead, secured the most votes in the award's internet poll and was revealed as the winner on Channel Nine's Wide World of Sports today.


He earned the nod ahead of other nominees Socceroos star Tim Cahill, Tour de France stage-winning cyclist Simon Gerrans, Olympian Jamie Dwyer, V8 Supercar driver Garth Tander and footballers Jarrad McVeigh, Matthew Pavlich and Brent Harvey (AFL) as well as Corey Parker and James Maloney (NRL).

The previous winners of the award – which also sees Warner donating $10,000 to his chosen charity, Make a Wish Foundation Australia – have been NRL players Johnathan Thurston (2015), Anthony Minichello (2014) and John Skandalis (2009), AFL dads Jude Bolton (2013), Sam Mitchell (2011) and Brett Kirk (2010) and V8 driver Mark Winterbottom (2012).

One of the topics addressed by all entrants who were profiled on the competition's website was how they juggled the commitment to their chosen professional sport with the responsibilities of parenting.

Warner, who claimed he held a "sneaky suspicion" he was nominated for the award by Candice, admitted that is especially difficult for an international cricketer playing in all three formats (Tests, ODIs and T20 Internationals) as well as taking part in the annual two-month Indian Premier League tournament.


Which can see a cricketer of Warner's calibre spending more than 300 days of each year away from home.

While he won't rule out scaling back his commitments to competitions such as the IPL once his girls reach school age and are less able to accompany him on overseas assignments, Warner plans to maintain his hectic schedule for the immediate future.

But the 29-year-old, who will hand back the captaincy to incumbent skipper Steve Smith ahead of this month's ODI tour to South Africa, admits that it will be "challenging" to continue playing all three formats as his family commitments become more demanding.

"We set out to do this (become professional cricketers) because we enjoy and love playing cricket," Warner told cricket.com.au from the Australia team's hotel in Kandy yesterday.

"Things down the track always change and that is becoming a parent, getting married, you start to travel more when you play all three forms and now having two kids and being married – that's a choice.

"You have a choice to do that, and I love every minute of that and something will have to give eventually because I do miss my kids when I'm away, and my wife.

"They're the choices I'm going to have to make near the end of my career, you're gonna have to make sacrifices.


"And I've spoken to the guys that have retired now and said the same thing, as the kids get older and they get into school it is quite challenging to play all three forms or play that much cricket."

And while Warner admitted to being "honoured and humbled" to be recognised for the job he does as a dad, he was all too aware of the demands that his job takes on his family.

As they celebrate Father's Day in Sydney today, while Warner is almost 9,000 kilometres away at Pallekele Stadium near Kandy where he will carry responsibility for the fortunes of his country's cricket team.