Former Australia cricketer Ian Chappell thinks Australian captain Steve Smith and coach Darren Lehmann should be fined too along with David Warner. He thinks the captain and coach are liable for encouraging Warner's on-field aggressive behavior.
Warner and South Africa's Quinton de Kock have been charged by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for an incident after the first Test in Durban. A video footage appears to show that Australia's vice-captain Warner was engaged in an altercation with wicketkeeper De Kock.
"A suspension would be appropriate because you need to stamp it out from the top down," Chappell told Channel Nine. "But Warner gets the suspension, and while he's responsible for his own actions and words, he's being allowed to do it by people above him.
"I'd like to see those above him suspended for sanctioning it. If you start taking strong action like that then you'll get some sanity. It's always the same - the players pay the penalty for the stupidity of those above. Warner is being encouraged to be the attack dog.
"The laws of the game state the captain is responsible for the on-field actions of his players, so if Steve Smith is not stepping in he's just as culpable."
Chappell believes the administrators should get things in control. "I've been saying for 15 years that there'll be fisticuffs at some point, and it must have come close in that stairwell. It's pretty obvious to me that the more you allow to be said on the field, the higher the chance that something personal will be said, and if it gets personal, you've got a situation on your hands.
"How stupid is it, when I read before the Test that the Australians might bait Kagiso Rabada because he's close to being suspended? Surely if you're the officials and you see that, you call the coach and captain in the day before the game and explain it won't be tolerated, and the first bloke who puts a foot out of line will be suspended.
"I don't want it to sound like nothing was said on the field when I played, because things were said. But it wasn't premeditated. It wasn't discussed in team meetings beforehand. Sometimes in the heat of the moment things were said.
"I wouldn't be trying to stop gamesmanship, because that's an important part of the game of cricket, and it's responsible for a lot of the humour in the game. But the inane chatter, abuse and comments trying to unsettle players, you don't need it. Are you saying you don't have enough faith in your bowlers to take 20 wickets?"
Warner allegedly called De Kock a 'bush pig'. The South African wicket-keeper is then said to have made a comment on Warner's wife, which the Aussie couldn't handle. They were involved in the ugly argument during tea break of day four in the first Test between Australia and South Africa.
Australia clinched the first Test of the series with a dominant 118-run victory.
