David Warner was always going to be made the bad guy after his rather irresponsible comments on Jonathan Trott, soon after which the England batsman left the ongoing Ashes tour Down Under due to a stress-related illness.
Warner called Trott's dismissal in the second innings of the first Test match in Brisbane, where he failed to negotiate some fearsome short-pitch barrage from Mitchell Johnson for a second straight time, "pretty poor and pretty weak", which has rightly come for much criticism from both the Aussie and English camps.
England insisted Trott's departure had nothing to do with those comments, or how much he had struggled with his batting in the first Test, with the No.3 mainstay battling the stress-related problem for quite a while now.
Warner stood down from his earlier comments, and said he hoped to see Trott back in England colours soon. "We didn't know anything about an illness or what not," Warner told the Sydney Morning Herald. "It's sad to see anyone go through that tough period and obviously if he's got an illness that's there we hope he gets the right people to help him out.
"We know the world-class kind of batter he is -- he averages 50 in Test cricket -- and he has been a great player, a rock for England. I wish him all the best and I know our team wishes him all the best. I hope he gets well soon and [is back] playing the best cricket he can."
Warner also admitted he had probably gone too far with his comments, with the likes of England skipper Alastair Cook and coach Andy Flower also criticising the Australia left-hander for the manner in which he made the issue personal.
"I was always going to cop criticism, no matter what, from what I said," Warner added. "As I said before, I probably stepped over that line and at the end of the day it's cricket. We've got to go out there and play the best we can and as hard as we can without crossing that line.
"Going into public and saying what I did probably did go over the line a little bit. Obviously it's unfortunate that [Trott] has gone home now. I hope he gets well because we know the type of player he is and he will bounce back from it."
Warner's comments were perceived as so over the line that even Steve Waugh, one of the hardest competitors you will ever see in the game of cricket, admonished his compatriot. "I think Dave Warner's comments were out of order," Waugh told SCG's website. "I don't believe you should comment on someone else personally on the opposition.
"He can make a generic comment, but I think when you get personal like that, you cross the line on how players treat each other, and the respect they should have.
"So I didn't agree with Dave's comments, having said that, he probably did smell a bit of fear in the England opposition players. Unfortunately for Jonathan Trott, it was a personal issue, and you don't want to keep going on about that.
"You just want him to get better and get well. So I think that hopefully has been put behind in that last Test match, and won't be brought up again.
"I think Australia probably need to be a little bit more clever about the way they're going about things. They're playing well, so they don't need to do so much talking out there now."
The second Test begins in Adelaide on Thursday.
