Reports of David Warner outraging teammates at Cape Town hotel emerge

REPORTS of David Warner angering teammates by partying with friends at the hotel amid Australia’s crisis have emerged.

DAVID Warner’s hellish tour to South Africa has seen him lose favour with teammates after fresh reports of the 31-year-old being the main instigator in the third Test’s ball tampering scandal emerged.

Fox Sports Australia reported several of Australia’s Test team were unaware of the plot to tamper the ball until footage emerged on the big screen, leaving a large portion of the squad furious at the former Aussie vice-captain.

Warner reportedly removed himself from a WhatsApp group with fellow players, while one source claimed the opening batsman had “gone rogue”.

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Warner then rubbed salt into his teammates’ wounds by reportedly swilling champagne with friends at the Aussie team’s Cape Town hotel following the international outrage.

A number of his teammates reportedly asked Cricket Australia bosses to “remove” him from the hotel, warning of an incoming “incident” if he stayed.

Warner snapped "swilling champagne in the bar of the team hotel in Cape Town with non-cricket mates"

It's all going very well, very well indeed https://t.co/BcvhbgWu2s

— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) March 27, 2018

A lonely David Warner has reportedly gone rogue.

Australia’s prime minister called for an end to sledging in cricket Tuesday, saying it was “right out of control” as he urged the sport to clean up its image amid a ball-tampering scandal.

Malcolm Turnbull described the cheating crisis in which captain Steve Smith admitted to masterminding a plot to change the ball’s condition during the third Test against South Africa on Saturday as a “shocking affront to Australia”.

He demanded Cricket Australia act decisively in investigating the incident. The governing body is expected to provide an update on Wednesday.

Turnbull added that authorities needed to crack down on sledging — verbal abuse involving players on both sides — if it wanted cricket to “once again (be) held up as a role model”.

“I think there has to be the strongest action taken against this practice of sledging,” he told reporters in Canberra. “It has got right out of control ... it should have no place (in cricket).

“The game of cricket ... should be one that once again is held up as a role model.” The Test series between South Africa and Australia was ill-tempered even before Saturday’s explosive admissions.

The first Test in Durban earlier this month was plagued by an ugly row between vice-captain David Warner and South Africa’s Quinton de Kock.

CCTV footage showed Warner being restrained by team-mates as he appeared to lose his temper during a confrontation on a staircase as the players walked to their dressing rooms.

The incident was reportedly over a jibe about Warner’s wife Candice, with the Australian describing the remark as “vile and disgusting”.

Both players were punished for the bust-up with Warner fined 75 per cent of his match fee and De Kock 25 per cent.

The recent Ashes series was likewise marred by tensions between Smith and England bowler James Anderson, with umpire Aleem Dar having to separate the pair when the Australian was batting.

Anderson described the Aussies as bullies who overstepped the line ahead of the Adelaide Test, with Smith retorting that the Englishman was one of the biggest sledgers in the game.

— with AFP