It was the sporting controversy that rocked the country and dominated headlines for more than two weeks, but the fall-out from Cricket Australia’s ball-tampering scandal would bruise David and Candice Warner beyond imagination.
One week after 31-year-old Warner fronted the nation’s press with a tearful apology for his involvement, 33-year-old Candice lost the couple’s unborn baby, the one she had been carrying in secret from the public.
“I called Dave to the bathroom and told him I was bleeding. We knew I was miscarrying. We held one another and cried,” the former professional ironwoman told Australian Women’s Weekly on Wednesday.
“The miscarriage was a heartbreaking end to a horror tour. The ordeal from the public humiliations to the ball tapering had taken its toll and, from that moment, we decided nothing will impact our lives like that again.”
The entrepreneur told the publication she and her husband of three years had been trying for a third child since July 2017. Together they have two daughters, Ivy Mae, three, and Indi Rae, two.
They were overjoyed to see a positive pregnancy test when they arrived in Cape Town for the test that would later see David banned from cricket for 12 months.
What added to the pain, Candice said, was experiencing the first subtle changes of pregnancy, only for it all to end so abruptly.
“I don’t think either of us realised how much we longed for this baby. We had been trying since last July and I did a test when we first got to Cape Town.”
The backlash Candice and her husband experienced after the ball-tampering scandal, combined with the scrutiny she faced after sexist taunts from opposition wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock, ultimately contributed to her pregnancy loss, she believes.
“It rocked my very foundation and I paid the ultimate price, losing our baby,” she said.
“I wonder how all those who came after me feel now?”
If you or a loved one is suffering after pregnancy loss, help is available at SANDS.
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Top Comments
How is she certain the stress 100% caused her miscarriage? Blaming others for something that may have happened regardless of outside circumstances is I think irresponsible.
Stress doesn't cause miscarriages. What she's doing is expressing a personal belief, which actually doesn't equate to scientific fact. But hey: points for trying to make oneself more marketable via a PR campaign, I guess.
I think the way the country carried on about some ball tampering was ridiculous.
I think it's very sad that a much wanted child was lost because of the absolute pressure that people put this woman under. She didn't cheat, but she sure was hounded by the media.