In his place England opener Jason Roy will be joining the franchise, having flown out from London on Thursday, according to a message posted in a media Whatsapp group by the Sixers media manager.
"There was pain before. Some fluid is accumulated in the elbow but although I took painkillers for it, the pain is not subsiding," the message quoted Warner as saying. "So, according to the advice of Cricket Australia, I will be returning home. The doctors at home will examine and let me know if I need to go under the knife.
“I had a fantastic time over here playing in BPL. However, I would like to do something memorable in the last two matches I play for the Sylhet Sixers.”
It was also cleared out that in place of the South African Imran Tahir, his national teammate Wayne Parnell has already joined to feature for the Sixers.
The news of Warner leaving, however, had broken long before they made the midnight announcement. Cricket Australia’s website had announced on Thursday morning that Warner would be returning from the BPL, after which Sylhet’s media manager said that there was an injury, and that there was no decision on it yet.
As the day wore on, it first emerged -- according to the franchise -- that Warner would play out the ongoing Sylhet leg of the BPL. Meanwhile, Surrey CCC had announced that Jason Roy would join Sylhet Sixers -- presumably as Warner’s replacement -- but that too was not announced by the franchise.
The Sixers then called a press conference to address the issue at 5:30pm at their Sylhet hotel, but at 5:24 the media manager informed the Whatsapp media group that the press conference was postponed ‘due to the unavailability of Sixers management’ and that they would ‘post further updates regarding DW’. The last information on Thursday was that it Warner’s departure was not yet confirmed.
