The mystery surrounding the supposed theft of David Warner’s baggy green caps has turned out to be little more than a case of the Australian team getting their luggage mixed up.
Warner, his father Howard and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called out whoever had the backpack containing the star opener’s baggy greens to come forward in the lead-up to the SCG Test earlier this month.
His father labelled the alleged perpetrator of the theft as a “scumbag” as the suspicion was that someone had picked up the backpack at the Sydney airport luggage carousel after the team had flown in from Melbourne after the Boxing Day Test.
But now it has been revealed that the bags were lost in the team’s hotel all along, according to a report in The Age.
A reward was offered and he wore a replacement cap for the start of the Test before it was announced midway through the match that the backpack had been located.
The backpack had been placed in one of the many cricket coffins and the name tag was obscured so it was not placed among Warner’s other gear.
Warner and Test skipper Pat Cummins were coy about the whereabouts of the missing backpack when asked at the end of the win over Pakistan.
“It’s probably not my story to tell. Maybe talk to Davey,” Cummins said.
David Warner at the Sydney Cricket Ground. (Photo by Jason McCawley – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
Warner then added at his later media conference after the final day: “You’re going to have to ask security. I wish I’d played a prank like that. You’ll have to ask Frank [Dimasi] or Stu Bailey [security staff]. I literally got it handed to me and there was nothing [said to me]. That’s legitimate.”
Team manager Catherine Weightman ultimately discovered the missing backpack among the other luggage at the squad’s hotel with another staffer admitting they had noticed it a few days earlier but did not realise it was the one containing Warner’s prized items.
Maxtruck
Roar Rookie
Just setting up another chapter for the book. Perhaps to replace the one about SBW giving Candice a portion in the dunny at The Coogee Bay
Tufanooo
Roar Rookie
I think the way Candace was trying to quickly move the convo on on the radio would indicate that she and Warner made a significant error in judgment and are just trying to brush it off and save some face now. Silly stuff all round.
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
Assuming it wasn’t a publicity stunt (and I’m not convinced it wasn’t!), what a tw@t Warner now looks. Either so dumb he doesn’t remember where he packed what he claims are items he loves more than anything, or so he’s too up himself to pack his own bag.
Just call me Campo
Roar Rookie
This is a hoax. I don't know why but CA are complicit. Now Bancroft is revealed to be on the bugle with them. Davey and Candy are pulling the strings. What does he have on these blokes? Time for CA to rejuvenate the place, sack themselves and Smith (and Manus for that matter)
DTM
Roar Rookie
Things get lost, it happens. However, where is the apology for calling someone a scumbag? Where is the public thank you for the person finding it? Where is the acknowledgement that maybe I should look after my things better? This is why he will never endear himself to the Australian public.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
There is a small gap between the Sydney and Melbourne tests. Australia wins the test Warner gets drunk after the win.. If you think about it logically this idea a thief is going to go to a big set of luggage search it and magically pull out only the bag with Warners baggy greens. A thief is going to take whole bags and go to a safe spot where they will go through it, or if they have time search through the bags and take out the valuables leaving a mess. If the bags were misplaced the whole bag goes missing not a bag inside another bag. So the thief theory that was never an option. The simple explanation is Warner was so drunk he thinks he places it into his own bag and places it to some random general bag and they discover it later on or he just left it behind and then the last bloke to go through the rooms found it and then put into a general bag.
Harvey Wilson
Roar Rookie
These days you can only come to the conclusion that it was planned to increase the hype of retirement by his attention starved wife. She seems to be calling the shots.
The Late News
Roar Rookie
Warner's gone. No more story.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
People paid to their job? I remember the fridge magnet campaign "if you see a suspicious bag report it to the authorities". ------- What do "staffers" do?