Inconsistent Aussies have scored another Ashes own goal with Warner's halfway house punishment

Australia, seemingly in total disarray with less than a month now until the Ashes, could not even get David Warner’s punishment right. What they have come up with is a sort of halfway house that will not do any good for anyone, let alone the team.

It seems as though the Aussies wanted to take strong action and send home the serial offender who surely went a step too far by punching Joe Root in a Birmingham bar. But they could not quite bring themselves to, knowing they would weaken their already struggling side still further if they took away the potentially destructive batting of Warner.

Instead, in banning Warner for the rest of the Champions Trophy and their pre-Ashes warm-up games, Australia have neither been firm in cracking down on indiscipline, something it seems they urgently need, nor pragmatic in making sure one of their better batsmen stayed on board for the biggest series of them all.

Games Warner will miss: 

June 17: Sri Lanka, Champions Trophy, The Oval

June 26 - 29: Somerset, Taunton

July 2 - 5: Worcestershire, New Road

It is difficult to see Warner playing at Trent Bridge in the first Test on July 10 without any practice since he was dismissed, typically, flashing outside off-stump against England at Edgbaston on Saturday and being caught in the slips.

How can Australia possibly throw him in at the deep end now when he so clearly needs as much time in the middle against the moving ball as possible if his technique is going to stand up to Jimmy Anderson and English conditions?

If they do he will surely be an even bigger walking wicket than he seems now against an England attack who will have no qualms about bowling at him.

And if Warner is not going to play in that first Test – and once the series starts there is very little time for further acclimatisation – then why haven’t the Aussies made a strong stand and put down a marker by sending him packing like they did with another player involved in alcohol-related incidents in 2009, Andrew Symonds?

Cricket Australia statement: 

Cricket Australia (CA) advises that David Warner has been suspended and fined for breaching the Cricket Australia Code of Behaviour. 

At a hearing tonight, Warner pleaded guilty to breaching Rule 6: Unbecoming Behaviour. CA Senior Code of Behaviour Commissioner, The Hon. Justice Gordon Lewis AM, fined Warner $11,500 and suspended him from the remainder of Australia’s ICC Champions Trophy campaign as well as the Australian team’s two tour matches before the first Ashes Test against Somerset and Worcestershire. Warner will be eligible for selection for the first Test.

Rule 6 states: Without limiting any other rule, players and officials must not at any time engage in behaviour unbecoming to a representative player or official that could (a) bring them or the game of game into disrepute or (b) be harmful to the interests of cricket.

What we are left with, it seems, is another own goal in a tour which has got off to the worst possible start so soon after the humiliation which Australia suffered in India. At least on that trip captain Michael Clarke and coach Mickey Arthur got tough in disciplining four players – Shane Watson, James Pattinson, Usman Khawaja and Mitchell Johnson – for failing to do their ‘homework’ after being asked to come up with ideas on how their squad could improve.

That seemingly drastic action was seen at the time as the last straw, with Warner’s attitude to fitness apparently being one of the earlier reasons for Clarke and Arthur worrying about the lack of discipline in their team.

If they were being consistent then Australia should have sent Warner home now but they have shown weakness and inconsistency in not doing so. Their catalogue of errors, which started when they were bowled out for 65 by India in a warm-up game and continued with worries over Clarke’s fitness, goes on.

It is surely inconceivable that any county would provide Warner with the opportunity for match practice in the next month. It is all very well the likes of Chris Rogers and Ed Cowan playing county cricket in an Ashes year but giving a break to a sucker like Warner would be close to treason in this of all summers.

So Warner will be part of the squad but he will not be able to play. At least he might be able to spend more time in his favourite Walkabout Bar in Birmingham where his face is said to be very well known. He will have plenty of time on his hands now to further acquaint himself with the place.

AUSTRALIA TIMELINE

Australia batsman David Warner has been suspended by Cricket Australia until the opening Ashes Test at Trent Bridge next month following an altercation with England player Joe Root.

Here, Sportsmail takes a look back at what has been an unsettling fortnight for the Australian cricket team.

May 20: It is announced that Australia batsman David Warner will face a disciplinary hearing in relation to a heated argument he had with a journalist on Twitter in which he claimed "all you do is talk s***" and called another reporter a "p***k".

May 22: Warner is hit with the maximum fine available of 5,750 Australian dollars (£3,700) after pleading guilty to breaching the Cricket Australia Code of Behaviour for the Twitter rant.

May 23: Warner apologises for his Twitter outburst.

June 1: Shane Watson scores a sparkling century as Australia beat the West Indies by four wickets in a Champions Trophy warm-up match in Cardiff.

June 4: Australia suffer a crushing 243-run defeat by India in their final Champions Trophy warm-up game in Cardiff.

June 5: Captain Michael Clarke leaves the team's training camp to undergo treatment on a long-standing back problem in London, with Australia physiotherapist Alex Kountouris admitting he was "in a race against time" to be fit to play England at Edgbaston.

June 7: Clarke is ruled out of the ICC Champions Trophy clash with England due to a lower back injury.

June 8: England beat Australia by 48 runs in their opening Champions Trophy Group A game at Edgbaston.

June 11: Clarke is ruled out of the Champions Trophy clash with New Zealand due to his ongoing back injury.

June 12: Cricket Australia confirm that Warner has been stood down from the Champions Trophy match against New Zealand for being involved in a physical altercation with Joe Root in the early hours of Sunday morning following the match between the teams in Birmingham.

June 13: CA suspend Warner until the first Ashes Test and fine the batsman £7,000 after he admitted breaching the organisation's code of behaviour during the incident.