Australia vs New Zealand: Steve Smith 'showed his immaturity. He may live to regret it,' says Brendon McCullum

The Test series starts at midnight tonight

Andrew Tong
Wednesday 04 November 2015 17:04 GMT
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Australia batsman David Warner with former captain Michael Clarke
Australia batsman David Warner with former captain Michael Clarke

David Warner has never been one to pull his punches, as Joe Root would know from his experience in the Walkabout bar in Birmingham. The Australian opener was recently named vice-captain in the new leadership regime of Steve Smith as one of the remaining senior statesmen in a revamped side, and he might have been expected to rein in his more combative instincts. But instead he has taken on the role of big brother and protector of Smith ahead of Australia’s cricketing encounter with their traditional “little brother”, New Zealand, in a three-Test series which starts at midnight tonight.

New Zealand have positioned themselves at the opposite end of the scale under their skipper, Brendon McCullum, and have not chosen not to indulge in sledging - in stark contrast to Warner, who described how his side had at times “head-butted” the notion of the “spirit of cricket”. However, a column in a British newspaper by McCullum in September, in which he said that Smith “showed his immaturity” by not withdrawing an obstructing the field appeal against England’s Ben Stokes in a one-dayer, has clearly become rooted in Warner’s mind. “It was disappointing that Smith had a chance to make a statement about the way he wants his side to play,” McCullum wrote in the Daily Mail. “By not withdrawing the appeal, Smith showed his immaturity. He may live to regret it.”

Warner responded in Brisbane by saying: “In my opinion it was something that was quite poor and immature on his behalf, to actually make the comment about Steve. For one, as an international cricketer I don’t see the need or the right for a current cricket captain to write columns on another series. After I read the first one I didn’t really pay attention to what he was saying.

“His opinion is going to be heard worldwide but you can’t be talking about the players the way he did. At the end of the day he’s the captain and you’ve got to respect Brendon, he’s done a great job with the Kiwis and he’s trying to make them the world’s politest team, and well done to him.”

“At the end of the day you’re not playing for the Spirit of Cricket Award are you, you’re playing for a series and for us that’s what our goal is, is to win the series,” he added. “Our goal is to be No 1 in all formats and we’re always going to fight for that. At the end of the day we try not to cross that line. A couple of times we’ve head-butted it.”

So the forthcoming encounter could turn out to be more like last weekend’s Rugby World Cup final than the cricketing equivalent in February, when the Aussie keeper Brad Haddin said the New Zealanders’ nice-guy attitude had made him feel uncomfortable. But with the final Test in Adelaide at the end of the month being the first to be played in the evening under floodlights using a pink ball, the visitors had better watch out for any late-night shenanigans from Warner and Co.

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