Candice Warner, the wife of Aussie bad boy David Warner, has revealed that her husband’s decision to walk off the field in a Sydney grade game was the result of ‘very hurtful’ comments by the brother of the late Phillip Hughes.

Warner’s wife revealed in an interview with Channel Nine that her husband left the field mid-innings after what she described as ‘hurtful’ comments by Jason Hughes, the brother of Warner’s former Test teammate, Phillip Hughes, who died tragically in 2014 after being hit on the head by a bouncer during a Sheffield Shield match.

‘I’m not going to go into the details. However, David was taken aback by the comments and thought they went a little bit too far, so he decided to remove himself from the game,’ Mrs Warner said.

Warner was playing for club side Randwick-Petersham and was on 35 when he informed the umpires that he was ‘removing himself’ from the field.

According to Cricket Australia’s website, Hughes had started by ‘goading’ Warner but his comments reportedly soon ‘turned personal’. The fiery-tempered Warner made the decision to leave the field to prevent himself from getting caught up in an angry war of words with Hughes.

‘Everyone has their own opinion, but I think there’s a difference between sledging and abuse,’ added Mrs Warner.

‘I’m not going to get into what was said yesterday, but it went too far. I would personally put it into the category [of abusive comments], but I’m talking for myself.

‘He removed himself firstly because he didn’t like what he was hearing and where that could’ve been taken. It was hurtful, very hurtful.’

Warner returned to the crease almost immediately thanks to the encouragement of his teammates and went on to score 157.

‘He realised that he had to play. He turned around and back out he went,’ said Bill Anderson, manager of Randwick-Petersham, in an interview with The Telegraph, adding that Warner expressed the opinion that the comments were ‘very offensive to him’.

‘He wasn’t teary, but you could tell he had been quite affected by that. It wasn’t a heated exchange. It was something said in close range,’ added Anderson.

Warner was on the fielding side when Phillip Hughes was struck on the neck by a bouncer bowled by Sean Abbott. The injury resulted in the player passing away two days later.

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