DAVID Warner has admitted he felt gutted at the thought his behaviour may have contributed to the sacking of Mickey Arthur as Australian cricket coach.
Barely a fortnight after Warner put his own Ashes campaign in jeopardy by punching England opener Joe Root in a Birmingham bar on June 9, Arthur was fired by Cricket Australia which took a dim view not just of the incident but how it was handled by team management.
Arthur's stunning departure on June 24 opened the door for Darren Lehmann to take over the reins of the Australian team heading into the five-Test Ashes series.
Warner was fined $11,500 over the incident and suspended up to the start of the Ashes campaign on July 10 but effectively he also was ruled out of last week's Trent Bridge Test and the Lord's Test starting on Thursday because the selectors weren't prepared to pick him sight unseen.
To overcome his lack of match practice, Warner is being sent to join the Australia A team on its tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa but, speaking on the eve of his departure from London, Warner spoke for the first time of how shattered he was that his behaviour not only had cost him dearly but may also have contributed to his coach's sacking.
"It was probably another thing that was gutting, that I may have played a part in that," said Warner. "But that's the business we're in and (Cricket Australia CEO) James Sutherland explained the reasons why that happened and that's the thing that we have to do, we're professional athletes, we have to move on from that and now Darren is the coach and we respect Darren 100 per cent."
Warner admitted he had had "an inkling" before the Nottingham Test that he would be left out of the side but was still devastated when told the night before he wouldn't be playing.
"I rang my Mum and Dad and told them I wasn't playing. And I kind of broke down on the phone to Mum. It's just one of those things you ask your Mum and Dad what could I have done better in those situations. You don't want to really go into it as much but I've matured a lot since that incident and now it's all about me trying to play cricket again.
"(It's) massive to miss a Test. As a kid growing up, you want to play in the Ashes and after that incident I went back to my room and I was pretty shattered for a week and a half, two weeks. I still feel the guilt of what happened. I feel myself it's led to me being in this situation at the moment.
"Things would have been different, I would have been able to play those warm-up games and I could have pressed my claims to play in this first Test but that's me. I put my hand up and accepted the consequences and now it's about me putting as many runs on the board these next two games (in Harare and Pretoria) and press forward."
Warner's suspension at least made the selectors' task of unclogging the logjam at the top of the Australian order a whole lot easier, with Shane Watson and Chris Rogers confirmed as openers, and Warner, while he will bat at No 4 for Australia A against Zimbabwe and South Africa A, has been told it is as potential middle order batsman that he now is being considered.
"I've been spoken to about batting six and that's the role I'm looking forward to being part of this team. If I get into this team and I bat six, I'll be doing everything I can to fill that Mike Hussey role and come out and have that intent from ball one, because I see that as the acceleration number in the team. His intent that he had over the years he played was magnificent and I feel I can play that role as well."
Indeed, Warner wants to become the new Hussey in every respect and, after having been used last year as a leg spin bowler, particularly in the Caribbean, he has lately been working instead on his medium pace bowling to take over Hussey's former role of partnership-breaker and spare parts trundle to ease the workloads of the front-line bowlers.
But before Warner starts making plans for batting intelligently with the tail and becoming the new Mr Cricket, he first has to convince the selectors that he has regained his old swashbuckling form, which has deserted him of late. Certainly Lehmann has spelt out pretty plainly what is required of him in Africa with the Australia A side.
"He just said to go out there and score runs and be myself," said Warner. "Just get that X factor back that I can have for this team."
The 26-year-old left-hander stressed no bans or curfews had been placed on him by Lehmann either while an Ashes squad member or with Australia A, but then there really doesn't need to be.
"I know if I stuff up again I'm on the first plane home," he said. "No-one needs to tell you that because you already know it. He hasn't said anything about that to me at all."
England captain Alastair Cook was left wide-eyed and stunned after a girl fainted in the room where he was addressing a press conference here, prompting him to quip about the "impact" he would make in the ongoing Ashes series.
Australia gave more than just a glimpse of their ability to take the fight to England in their 14-run loss in the first Ashes Test at Trent Bridge. That has gladdened Glenn McGrath, the former Australia pacer, who believes Michael Clarke's team has the character to bounce back and level the series in the second Test starting at Lord's on Thursday (July 18).