David Warner and Matthew Wade could be in trouble with Cricket Australia after tempers flared in the Sydney Thunder’s clash with the Hobart Hurricanes on Sunday afternoon.
After Warner was castled for a duck by a delivery dubbed “jaffa of the season” at Bellerive Oval, tensions escalated when Wade was at the crease during Hobart’s innings.
Wade and Thunder captain Chris Green got in a heated argument, which led to Tim David — Wade’s batting partner — getting involved.
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Warner was seen shoving Wade, an Australian teammate of his, shortly after.
“That was inappropriate,” Kerry O’Keeffe said on the Fox Cricket coverage.
“It’s unsavoury. You can’t have contact like that. Whether they were half joking, I don’t know. The body language suggested not.
“There’s been some feistiness out there. This is an ill-tempered affair now.”
Green played down the seriousness of the altercation after the match.
“It’s all good,” Green told Channel Seven.
“We knew we were under par on a really good wicket and we’re both fierce competitors on the field. (I was) trying to create something out of nothing.
“There’s no issue. If you want to keep digging, there’s nothing there. We both play with feeling on the field. I’ve got no issues with him personally.”
Wade told Channel Seven he was “all right”.
“I couldn’t hit him (for runs while batting); that was more my frustration,” Wade said.
Warner had been bowled for a second-ball duck by a scintillating Riley Meredith delivery.
Meredith tore in bowling over the wicket with a first slip in place and swung the ball back viciously, as the left-handed Warner did his best to jam his bat down but had his stumps shattered.
“How good is this!” Brett Lee said on the Fox Cricket broadcast.
“Full, fast, shape. He went from a 136km/h to 140km/h-plus fajita. To get one of the world’s best out like that — oh what a feeling, all right!”
‘Jaffa of the season’ castles Warner
O’Keeffe labelled the ball “unplayable”.
“He tried to shorten the pick-up, (but) he couldn’t get it down in time,” O’Keeffe said.
“That’s a huge blow. The big pole has fallen.
“That’s (a) candidate for jaffa of the season, isn’t it, against someone of Warner’s reputation?”
Warner had made 19 runs from 20 balls in his return match for the Thunder on Friday night, losing his wicket when he edged a Matthew Kelly ball through to gloveman Josh Inglis.
Warner is among a host of Australian Test representatives buoying the BBL as franchises lose key players to rival T20 leagues.
Alex Hales has departed for the new UAE league and fellow Thunder batter Rilee Rossouw for the new South Africa tournament.
The Adelaide Strikers’ Chris Lynn and Rashid Khan, the Melbourne Stars’ Trent Boult and the Perth Scorchers’ Faf du Plessis are also among those who’ve dropped the BBL for the UAE or South Africa leagues.
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