Despite his own comments, there is no chance David Warner will be making a comeback to international cricket this summer according to his wife Candice Warner.

Speaking on Fox Sports’ The Back Page, the former ironwoman told the panel that the former Test opener believes he could still play an important role at the top of the order in Pat Cummins’ side but he was simply pulling everyone’s leg when he said he was open to coming out of retirement earlier this month.

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“I just got him home a lit bit more and I’m thinking, what the hell? What’s going on now?” Candice said with a laugh.

“He’s very passionate about playing for Australia and I think if George Bailey, the selector, or Andrew McDonald, the coach, picked up the phone and said ‘we need you’, he would jump at it.

“(But) It’s definitely not going to happen.

“I think if he genuinely didn’t think he was capable of doing it, he wouldn’t have said that but that’s not any disrespect to any of the openers or people (in the selection mix).

“If he was to have gone down that path to play again, he would have had to have done it just like everyone else. Play Sheffield Shield and everything like that.

“But it’s not happening. End of discussion.”

Many with in Australian cricket circles have publicly laughed off Warner’s comments including captain Cummins on The Grade Cricketer podcast, fast bowler Josh Hazlewood and Warner’s former opening partner Chris Rogers.

They all knew that Warner was playing games and Candice believes a former Australian captain summed up the situation best.

“He was answering a question and then people run with it,” she said.

“I think there were some really clever comments. Tim Paine said it right, ‘if you know David, he is a joker’.

“He does throw things out there and people take the bait.”

With Candice clearing the air on any comeback talk, Warner’s focus remains on the upcoming Big Bash where he will play every game in the season – pending fitness – for the Sydney Thunder for the first time in his career.

He may also be awarded the captaincy of the green Sydney team after his lifetime leadership ban from Cricket Australia was lifted last week.

An independent three-person panel found that Warner had showed sufficient remorse for his involvement in the sandpaper scandal in 2018, and the black mark on his resume has been removed going forward to give him opportunities at home like captaining the Thunder or entering into coaching in the future.

“I think it’s very appropriate that it’s been lifted. He’s at ease with the ban being lifted,” Candice said.

“Now it’s about moving forward. He’s playing with the Sydney Thunder for the next two years so he’s looking forward to that.

“In court if you get a lifetime ban, you get the ability to appeal. Now, that was not the case with his ban from Cricket Australia until a few years ago.

“They changed their ruling so that he could appeal. He put an appeal in a few years ago. It wasn’t really handled that well so he withdrew his appeal. Now, this time it is the right time and it’s really appropriate.”

As for if he will lead the Thunder this summer, Candice was unsure.

But she believes the title is almost redundant because even during his six and a half year ban, Warner was always an unofficial leader in any team he played in.

“He has been leading. He hasn’t had the ‘c’ on his name but he’s always had a leadership role,” she said.

“He’s been captaining sides all around the world whether it be in Dubai or in India and Canada and all these other places.

“So, he has leadership qualities and I’m sure if he gets tapped on the shoulder and asked ‘would you like to captain the Thunder?’, he would love that.”