David Warner: "There was a lot of personal stuff going on at home that was causing me a lot of stress and pain" © AFP

David Warner admits he found himself in a "bad place" in 2013, when disciplinary issues saw him temporarily lose his place in the side. Warner, speaking to the Cricket Monthly, reflected on a turbulent time for him and Australia, as they lurched from on-field loss to off-field controversies.

Australia were first blanked 4-0 in India that year, before losing the Ashes in England that summer. In between they failed to win a single game at the Champions Trophy. Most damaging, however, was a string of disciplinary fiascos, including the infamous Homeworkgate in India, in which four players were punished.

Warner was not involved then, but he would be at the forefront of a miserable summer, first becoming involved in a Twitter dispute with two senior Australian journalists before being suspended for punching Joe Root in a bar in Birmingham in the summer.

Warner did not skirt around that altercation, revealing he was not especially fond of Root. "I was in a bad place," he said. "I had been in India for 14 weeks [for the tour and then the IPL] and hadn't seen my family and there was a lot of personal stuff going on at home that was causing me a lot of stress and pain.

"I can't use that as an excuse, that would be a cop out. That is my stuff to deal with and no excuse for what I did, I was drunk, I didn't like the guy and I might have done what I did anyway. I did the right thing by ringing him and when we left it everything was fine but someone else got a hold of it and wanted to make some mileage out of it and you know English journalism."

The major fall-out from that period was the sacking of Mickey Arthur as Australia coach just before the Ashes. Warner revealed he felt his antics played a part in the removal, compelling him to speak to Arthur afterwards.

"I feel bad because it was all around the same time and I think what happened was the last straw for him and they used it as a reason to get rid of him," Warner said. "Obviously there was other stuff they weren't happy about. I have spoken to him and he was understanding. He is a gentleman and says, 'Don't be silly, it has nothing to do with you', but credit to the guy he is a very, very, very nice man. I owe him a lot."

Australia, now under coach Darren Lehmann, have recovered spectacularly, whitewashing England in the return Ashes in Australia, winning a Test series in South Africa and the 2015 World Cup. The only blip has been a series loss in the UAE. Warner's abrasive on-field swagger has continued to tread a fine disciplinary line since, twice being found guilty of breaching the ICC's code of conduct in the last Australian summer.

But he has been unarguably at the forefront of this resurgence, scoring 1732 Test runs in that period with nine hundreds and just short of 3000 runs across all international formats. He is seventh on the list of highest run scorers in that period (in all formats) but has done so at a higher strike rate than any in the top ten.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

 

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