Ashes 2017: David Warner believes Ben Stokes has let England down - but hopes he joins up with the squad

The police are expected to announce whether or not he has been charged this week

Warner believes having kids has calmed him somewhat (Getty)

Maybe it was the neck twinge he had in training just an hour earlier, or perhaps he really is a changed man. Either way, David Warner was far from his snarling best at the Gabba on Tuesday.

The man now nicknamed ‘The Reverend’ by his team-mates was in fact almost conciliatory in his tone, even wishing Ben Stokes “all the best” in the continuing police investigation into his late-night bust-up outside a Bristol nightclub back in September.

But Warner, who used to be known as ‘The Bull’, did bare his teeth briefly during an otherwise sedate media appearance, effectively accusing Stokes of letting down his country as Australians everywhere continued to ratchet up their moral indignation over an Ashes call-up for Stokes that appears as unlikely now as it was when a tabloid newspaper released video footage of that Bristol incident weeks ago.

England’s stance on Stokes is as it was when they arrived in Australia at the end of October – we have nothing to say until the police have made a decision whether to charge him or not.

That hasn’t stopped the rumour mill from going into overdrive though, with Australians seemingly convinced England’s star all-rounder is destined to be parachuted into Ashes action at some stage during the series.

Stokes has, according to who you believe, booked a plane ticket to Australia, had his headshot booked in by host broadcaster Channel Nine for the week before the third Test in Perth and an apartment reserved for him at England’s base for that match at the Waca.

All the while we wait for the police to announce whether he has been charged or not. There was talk that a decision is due this week. However, England’s management thought the same last week.

The truth is nobody knows. But that hasn’t stopped Australians speculating over what will happen.

Cue Warner. “I think it’s probably disappointing for the England team and the country,” he said of Stokes. “He’s let a lot of people down. It’s obviously up to the English police first to think that that’s right, with punishment or no punishment. At the end of the day he knows he’s made a mistake and it’s about him getting that respect back from his players and fellow countrymen.

“If he does come out here we’ll wish him well. Hopefully he brings the fieriness that he does to the competition. I wish everyone well. We’re all sportsmen and we’re trying to achieve the same thing and that’s to win. I wish everyone good luck.”

Warner, now 31, is not the most eloquent man yet his dig at Stokes is not surprising given his wife, Candice Falzon, last month said video footage of that Bristol incident, when Stokes is seen apparently throwing several punches, was “disgusting”.

Stokes could be in the squad for the third Test at the Gabba (AFP)

It’s four years since Warner was hauled over the coals for late-night indiscipline – banished from the start of Australia’s 2013 Ashes campaign in England after attempting to punch Joe Root in Birmingham’s Walkabout bar during the Champions Trophy earlier that summer.

But marriage and two children appears to have changed him - well, a little anyway. “I’ve probably mellowed over the last couple of years, having two little kids,” said Warner. “I think when you’re in the heat of the battle and things get a bit fiery out there I’ll always be feisty.”

There were even kind words, albeit with a snide caveat, for Root, for whom the Ashes will be his first overseas Test series as captain. “I think the added responsibility will help him a bit with his batting especially,” said Warner. “With the rest of the team there is obviously a lot of senior players still so it’s important he gets the respect from them.

“But as a captain I think he’ll be fantastic. He’s led the team but not for the Ashes. The Ashes are going to be a challenging one for him. This will set him up for the rest of his future as captain.”

Warner did, of course, talk about this series as “war” and working himself up for it by cultivating a “hatred” of England’s players.

Maybe it was the neck injury – which Warner says is minor and will not stop him playing in Thursday’s first Test – that got to him today.

Either way, England would be wise not to expect ‘The Reverend’ when Warner locks horns with them during the Ashes. After all, there’s already been so much ‘Bull’ spouted in the build-up to the series that they’d be foolish to think they wouldn’t be more from Australia’s players – especially vice-captain Warner – when the series begins.