STEVE SMITH’S NEW HEARTACHE
He’s drinking alone in New York while his fiancee is on the other side of the world – without her engagement ring!
While all around him people laughed and drank pints of beer in New York’s wellknown raucous Irish dive bar Nancy Whiskey Pub, disgraced cricket captain Steve Smith looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders as he sat texting alone at the bar.
Now, insiders are telling Woman’s Day the reason for the 29-year-old’s sad demeanour might not be solely his flagging career, which hit rock bottom when he was unceremoniously sacked from the Australian cricket team following the balltampering scandal in March.
ABSENT WAG
In fact, the source of Steve’s heartache is much closer to home. His fiancee Dani Willis is no longer wearing her engagement ring! She has upped sticks and flown to the other side of the world, leaving her partner alone in New York last week before he flew to Toronto to appear in the Global T20 in Canada.
According to one current WAG – who asked not to be named – the former first lady of cricket has not posted a single photo on Instagram with her husband-to-be since March 19, just days before the notorious ball-tampering incident that sent three senior players home. She has instead been madly posting with her “bestie” Annica as they gallivant around Europe living the high life in designer clothes and staying at the $700-a-night Palazzo Avino hotel, which boasts a Michelinstar restaurant and overlooks the dramatic Amalfi Coast.
“Dani was always posting pics of her and Steve – in fact we laugh that for such a private couple she loved flaunting that she was engaged to the Aussie cricket captain,” one sports insider reveals to Woman’s Day.
“But in her recent pictures, everyone has noticed Dani isn’t wearing her engagement ring. Considering they’re due to be married in the NSW Southern Highlands in September, it seems very strange she’s not showing off the rock she loved to flaunt.”
More worrying than the mystery of Dani’s missing ring is the fact Steve is rumoured to be telling friends he’s considering calling off his bucks night in New York, and Dani’s plans for a hens party in Vegas may also be on the backburner, leading some to believe their relationship could be in crisis.
STEVE GOES SOLO
Meanwhile, an Australian who spotted Steve in New York told The Daily Telegraph, “It was an absolute shock to see the former Aussie cricket captain
‘It was a shock to see him… he looked so sad and lonely’
all by himself. He looked quite sad and lonely, and it’s a good thing he had his phone or he’d have had no contact with anyone.”
And while our source says the couple having been looking to buy a “one-bedroom apartment in any of the trendy boroughs”, which Dani will use as an address for when they fly in “to just go shopping”, insiders worry their relationship is currently so strained Dani may not even turn up in Toronto to support her forlorn husband.
“He’s expecting her there at some stage but she’s having such a good time why would she want to go and watch cricket?” says our source. “The biggest concern now is if Dani will ever come home from being a jetsetter or if she’s so used to that life now there’s no way of going back.”