Australia batsman David Warner has revealed that his nightclub scuffle with Joe Root ahead of the 2013 Ashes series was due to a misunderstanding over a wig.

Warner missed two matches after punching the England batsman for wearing the wig like a beard in a Birmingham club ahead of the last Test series between the two sides in England.

The 28-year-old told the Sydney Morning Herald: "A mate of mine was actually wearing it on top of his head like a [Lasith] Malinga wig, that's what it was. He was wearing it on his head and [Root] decided to come in and take it off my mate's head and start acting the way he did.

"When people are drunk that's what they do but I thought it was a bit inappropriate the way he went about that stuff so I went over and tried to take it off him. I just think in today's society you shouldn't be fooling around with that kind of stuff.

"He probably didn't mean anything by it at all. I probably let my aggression and alcohol take over there and probably made an excuse for me to go over there and actually take it off him."

The first Ashes Test gets underway in Cardiff next week.