Warner cops suspended sentence for grade no-show "We expect players to play grade when they're fit and their state commitments permit, and that's all we've said to David": Cricket NSW chief executive Andrew Jones. Despite imposing a suspended one-match sentence on batsman David Warner as punishment for his failure to play in a grade cricket match on Saturday, Cricket NSW chief executive Andrew Jones said the state remained committed to helping Warner return to his devastating best. Warner, dropped from the Australian one-day team that played England and is currently in India, found himself in hot water with Cricket NSW for missing the second day of the grade match between Randwick Petersham and Northern Districts on Saturday. After spending last week with restricted time in the nets to prepare for Monday's one-day match against Victoria at Bankstown Oval due to numerous Cricket Australia commitments, Warner elected to spend hours at batting practice rather than field for Randwick Petersham in their first-innings loss. "I should have played": Australian batsman David Warner. While club coach Bill Anderson and president Mike Whitney understood Warner was doing what he needed to do for his individual game - even though their side could only field 10 players as punishment - Cricket NSW demanded an explanation. By the end of the meeting on Tuesday, Warner was issued with a one-match suspended sentence; ordered to play in grade cricket the next two Saturdays and also be required to make two visits to rival grade clubs to promote the Transport for NSW "Plan B" campaign to help combat drink-driving. "I think we understand each other a bit better," Jones said. He's very keen to be successful and we're keen to help David succeed, but it is a matter of making sure we are on the same page and he's doing his bit and we're doing our bit - that was basically the essence of [the meeting]. We expect players to play grade when they're fit and their state commitments permit, and that's all we've said to David. Warner was advised by Cricket Australia that he needed to amass a mountain of runs in the Ryobi Cup to regain his position in the national team. Despite the disciplinary action, Jones said he wanted to see the 26-year-old force his way back to the top. You see the potential in David and you want to see him realise it, and we're here to help him do that, and he's got to do his part as well. From time to time you might have differences about how you do that ... grade cricket is important for his development and the development of NSW cricket. The grade drama was an unwelcome addition to Warner's recent litany of controversies, which included his missing the first two Ashes Tests on the recent tour of England after a late-night altercation with English batsman Joe Root and a Twitter war with two News Ltd journalists, but Jones said the left-hander was doing all he could to regain his touch.' He certainly wasn't looking for more headlines. He just wants to put his head down and he is training hard," Jones said. He wants to get runs and knows he needs to. I think he has the potential to be a very talented international cricketer and he knows there's things he needs to do on and off the field to achieve it. Warner was expected to be the only NSW player required to play grade cricket this weekend. He also understood he would be stood down for a game for the Blues this summer for any other misdemeanour. "I believed I was doing the right thing by focusing on my training and batting," he said in a statement released by Cricket NSW. Whitney, however, expressed his frustration to Fairfax Media on Monday at the Sydney Grade Association and Cricket NSW's decision to penalise his club for Warner's absence by forcing the team to take to the field with only 10 men. "Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought we would have to field with 10 men because a solution couldn't be worked out for the situation," he said.