David Warner gutted at his contribution to Mickey Arthur's sacking as Australian cricket coach

By Ben Horne

David Warner says he's gutted his drunken antics in a Birmingham nightclub contributed to Mickey Arthur's sacking as Australian coach.

After he found out he'd been dropped for the first Ashes Test, Warner revealed he broke down and cried on the phone to his mother.

The 26-year-old was all smiles at his media conference on Monday in London, but expressed an understanding of the effect that punching England's Joe Root has had on those around him.

Warner must shoulder blame for Australia being bundled out of the Champions Trophy, Arthur getting the axe and teammates suffering a heartbreaking 14-run loss to England at Trent Bridge.

He can earn back the respect of the dressing room and fight his way back for the third Test at Old Trafford, but he can't return Arthur his job.

Arthur had supported Warner through his recent off-field dramas, and even Cricket Australia (CA) admitted the coach had been made a scapegoat in many respects for the team's poor discipline.

Since then, it's emerged the South African had hired lawyers to seek further compensation from CA, as the fallout continues.

It's obvious that Warner's ugly night out led to Arthur's demise.

"It was probably another thing that was gutting, that I may have played a part in that," said Warner.

"But that's the business we're in and James Sutherland explained the reasons why that happened. We have to move on from that and now Darren (Lehmann) is the coach and we respect Darren 100 per cent."

On a personal level, Warner has been left to accept the fact his poor behaviour has cost him at least two Test matches and means he must fly to Africa on Tuesday to fight his way back to the Test team.

If he needed any reminding of why he was sitting on the sidelines, crossing paths with Root in the lunch room at Trent Bridge would have sufficed.

Warner will play two matches for Australia A against Zimbabwe and South Africa A and, if he scores runs, he's likely to come into the side at No.6 for Old Trafford.

But already, he's had his Ashes dream shattered and Warner says he's learned his lesson.

Now it's time for his actions to back up his words.

"I rang my mum and dad and told them I wasn't playing. And I kind of broke down on the phone to mum," he said.

"It's just one of those things you ask your mum and dad - what could I have done better in those situations? - and you don't want to really go into it as much but I've matured a lot since that incident.

"It was massive to miss a Test. As a kid growing up, you want to play in the Ashes and, after that incident, I went back to my room and I was pretty shattered for a week and a half, two weeks.

"I still feel the guilt of what happened. I feel myself it's led to me being in this situation at the moment. Things would have been different, I would have been able to play those warm-up games and I could have pressed my claims to play in this first Test, but that's me.

"I put my hand up and accepted the consequences and now it's about me putting as many runs on the board these next two games and press forward.

NZN

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