David Warner throws Aussie cricket team into meltdown with ‘Bali trip’…but all is not as it seems

Australian cricketer David Warner can’t score runs at the moment and is facing the axe – but he still found time to poke fun at the media and throw a scare into the national team ahead of the Boxing Day test in Melbourne.

The under-pressure batsman, 36, posted a serious of photos from an Instagram story on Monday featuring his daughters as well as photos from the luxury Ayana Resort in Bali.

It left many believing Warner had flown to Indonesia for a reset – despite the test being just days away.

Senior Cricket Australia staff were hit for six by questions about the batter’s apparent absence, with bowling coach Dan Vettori shocked to be asked if he was still in the country.

Team media manager Cole Hitchcock stepped in and said ‘he’s not in Bali’ but wasn’t 100 per cent sure, adding the side would ‘check it out but I severely doubt it.’

It was later confirmed Warner is in Sydney.

The ‘joke’ was directed at a friend of Warner’s, with the photos from Monday’s Instagram story dated 19 December 2022 – despite the fact they were taken more than a year ago.

Australian cricket star David Warner raised eyebrows after seemingly jetting off to Bali for a quick getaway ahead of his 100th career Test (pictured, with two of his daughters)

Warner later posted an image from The Rock Bar in Bali, part of the luxury Ayana Resort – but it is an old photo

What a comedian.

The unnecessary distraction for Pat Cummins’s squad perhaps provides an insight into Warner’s fragile mind as he faces the prospect of being dropped ahead of his 100th test.

While run machines Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith spent more time in the nets honing their craft with bowling coach Vettori, funny man Warner was posting from Coogee Beach in Sydney’s east.

Warner then informed his 9.6 followers in his latest Instagram story he was off to the grocery shop before offering some life advice – ‘don’t be fooled.’

Perhaps playing mind games with journalists is more important than Warner keeping his place in Australia’s XI?

During the first match of the series at the Gabba, the left-hander made scores of just 0 and 3 against the Proteas.

He never looked comfortable at the crease and calls have increased for his axing.

Warner has not scored a Test century since January of 2020, averaging 26.07 with the bat, and while the likes of Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith and Travis Head are scoring runs for fun, the Randwick Petersham junior is barely troubling the scorers.

Warner was out for 0 and 3 against South Africa in the first test at the Gabba in Brisbane

Proteas paceman Kagiso Rabada removed Warner in both of his innings at the Gabba during the first test 

National selector George Bailey has backed Warner to end his form slump.

‘I personally think there is runs around the corner for him,’ he said.

‘No doubt, and David would be the first to say this, he’d like a few more runs and to be contributing a bit more knowing the importance of that role at the top of the order. 

‘But I have full confidence that will come. ‘He’s moving well. He’s catching well. When people start to go – for want of a better way to put it – it’s the catching that goes, the movement goes.

‘But he’s still an outstanding fielder, still fit as a fiddle.’

Aussie cricket great Ricky Ponting believes Warner deserves to bow out on his own terms. 

‘He is a champion player — you never write off champion players ever,’ Ponting told Channel 7.

Former Australia all-rounder Simon O’Donnell (left), has called for Warner to retire from test cricket, but Ricky Ponting (right) believes the opener should be given another chance 

Warner averages just 21.64 this year and hasn’t made a test century since January 2020

‘When he finishes, he deserves to go out on his term. He has been a magnificent stalwart for Australian cricket.

‘He deserves the chance to finish the way he wants to finish.’

Former Australian all-rounder Simon O’Donnell disagrees, believing Warner should retire from test cricket before he is dropped.

‘I think he’d (Warner) be contemplating and possibly should (retire) at the end of the Sydney test,’ O’Donnell told SEN Radio.

‘We’re not talking about David Warner in the last few innings, we’re talking about David Warner in the last two years, he hasn’t been the same player he was prior to then.

‘That indicates to me that if David found form again, it’s not going to be for long.’