BRISBANE // Feisty Australia opener David Warner spiced up proceedings ahead of this week’s opening Test by labelling the New Zealand team “Mr Nice Guys” and vowing to stick to “in-your-face” cricket.
Warner did not hold back as he responded to comments from paceman Trent Boult that the Kiwis expected more aggression from Australia after a series of verbal send-offs during the World Cup final in March.
Australia, who thrashed New Zealand by seven wickets in the 50-overs final in Melbourne, host a three-Test series starting in Brisbane on Thursday.
“Is that what they said? Interesting,” Warner said, when told of Boult’s comment. “I don’t think we sledge them at all. They are the ‘Mr Nice Guys’.
“We saw in England that they invited the England team in for a beer which is something not common: you do it after a Test series. But that’s how they play their cricket. For us it is about being aggressive in the field. We play in-your-face cricket, the guys before us played it like that.
“That’s probably why we dominate in Australia. That’s something we are not going to stop.”
Warner also took aim at New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum for what he considered “immature” criticism of Steve Smith during Australia’s one-day series in England this year.
In his newspaper column McCullum said the Australia captain had shown “immaturity” by not withdrawing an obstructing-the-field appeal against England’s Ben Stokes in an ODI.
Warner criticised what he called McCullum’s hypocrisy.
“You’re not playing for the spirit of cricket award, are you? You’re playing for a series,” he said. “Our goal is to be No 1 in all formats and we’re always going to fight for that.
“We try not to cross that line. A couple of times, we’ve headbutted it. A couple of times, we might have crossed it but we’ve got to try and win every game.”
Paceman Mitchell Starc said Australia would seek to rattle the Kiwis in similar fashion to this year’s World Cup final.
“If you get rid of their big names and their more experienced players early and really get a bit aggressive ... the younger guys, I think, they go really back into their shell quite a bit,” Starc said.
Starc suggested the World Cup winners would draw confidence from their thumping win of New Zealand in the World Cup final.
“We’ll definitely be reminding them that we’ve bowled them out for 150 and 180 on very good wickets,” the left-armer said. “It’s nice to be playing in Australia and taking on guys who probably haven’t played too much cricket in these conditions.”
Australia have not lost a Test at the Gabba since 1988.
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