Bad boy David Warner appears to be knuckling down ahead of the Ashes, with the controversial Australian batsman signalling his retirement from Twitter.

Warner has attracted his share of headlines over the past year, especially due to a series of rants posted on the microblogging site. But in a firm indication he is getting serious ahead of the beginning of the Ashes series in less than three weeks, the dynamic strokeplayer says he has posted his final tweet.

“Hey guys, I’m back on Instagram and you can follow me It’s dwarner31. No more tweets from me!!” Warner posted on Saturday.

In May, Warner unleashed an expletive-ridden tirade at journalists Malcolm Conn and Robert Craddock in a series of tweets.

The 27-year-old was fined $5750 fined over the incident for which he later apologised.

But Warner only found himself in more hot water a month later when he was suspended for punching England opener Joe Root in a Birmingham bar. That suspension resulted in him missing the first two Ashes Tests in England which the hosts dominated.

Warner returned for the next three Tests to display solid if not spectacular form.

He landed in the spotlight again for the wrong reasons last month when he was handed a suspended one-match ban from Cricket New South Wales after missing a grade match to go to the races.

Warner was in sublime form in the domestic one-day tournament for NSW over the past month, in which he cracked three centuries to be the leading runscorer.

He is considered a near certainty to be picked for the first Ashes Test at the Gabba beginning on November 21 even though he struggled in both innings in NSW’s loss to Tasmania to open their Sheffield Shield campaign.

However, the Warner name is set to stay alive on Twitter with David’s older brother Steve, who is not without his own controversies on the social media forum, declaring he is there to stay.