Reports: David Warner's altercation with Quinton de Kock was a result of barb about his wife

In a video that surfaced post play on Day 4 of the ongoing Durban Test between South Africa and Australia, an off-field incident involving David Warner and Quinton de Kock has sparked a major controversy. The former can be seen being physically restrained by teammates with the latter at the tea break.

The Australian vice-captain exploded with anger in a stairwell altercation with South Africa’s Quinton de Kock at Kingsmead after derogatory comments were allegedly made about his wife, Candice. Warner was so incensed that he needed to be held back by teammate Usman Khawaja, with captain Steve Smith and wicketkeeper Tim Paine also attempting to calm him down before Smith dragged him away.

Reports on Sydney Morning Herald emerged on Monday morning here that Warner’s rage had been provoked by de Kock allegedly making barbs about his former ironwoman wife as the players walked towards the dressing rooms here on Sunday afternoon. Warner’s wife and his two young children are on tour with him in South Africa.

It was unclear what Warner, who also exchanged words with Faf du Plessis when South Africa’s captain emerged from the dressing room, had said back to de Kock in the fiery exchange. The blow-up with de Kock came during a tense fourth day of the match in which Warner was already in the news for the wrong season. He had already been receiving flak on social media for his emotion-charged spray towards South African’s Aiden Markram when the opener played a part in the run out of the Proteas’ top batsman AB de Villiers for a duck.

One of the few people who believed that Warner’s off-field reaction was a reaction to a personal attack was Australian great Adam Gilchrist. On Twitter, he said, “Ugly scenes in Durban. Can only assume something very personal has been throw at @davidwarner31 for this type of reaction. Not a good look all round.”