New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum slammed Australia opener David Warner for not acknowledging Joe Root’s first innings Cardiff century. McCullum said that Warner “might look back on his career and have a few regrets about the way he carries on”, but, he “needs to show more respect” to the opponent players.
In a column for Daily Mail, Brendon McCullum wrote, David Warner is a fine player, but I was disappointed to see some of the petulance on show in Cardiff. When Joe Root got his hundred, Warner just stood there with his arms folded. There was no applause. Some of the great Australian players – guys like Shane Warne, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Mike Hussey – were hard customers on the field. But if you had success against them, they’d go out of their way to acknowledge it. I understand the way Warner’s trying to play, but he needs to show more respect. The danger is that people won’t think about his cricket as much as they should, McCullum stated.
“There was the way he and Nathan Lyon tried to upset Ben Stokes’ routine, where he likes to sweep his bat around the crease. It’s a petulance that doesn’t need to be there,” McCullum further wrote. Warner and Joe Root were involved in the infamous “glancing blow” incident in a Birmingham pub.
Warner had previously stated that he was determined to disengage himself from the reputation he had built over several years in international cricket as a man who enjoyed a verbal confrontation, suggesting instead that his energy would be expended on Australia’s busy international schedule.
In the Ashes opener, the left-handed opening batsman appeared to curb his aggression, even channeling it elsewhere via a bizarre piece of by-play with off-spinner Nathan Lyon Cricket Australia wrote in its website.
David Warner, who is finding difficult to adapt to the English conditions, got out cheaply in the Cardiff Test, scored just 69 in two innings. I don’t think you’re ever ‘in’ – there’s always that one ball, that bunch of clouds that come over and it starts swinging, that one little bit of movement off the wicket to get you guessing. You don’t really feel ‘in’ at all on these type of wickets over here., Warner told Sydney’s Sky Sports Radio.