David Warner has been critiqued for most of his career but few pundits have rankled the reformed wild child quite as much as Brendon McCullum.
A humdrum lead-in to the three-Test series between Australia and New Zealand heated up on Tuesday, when Warner teed off at McCullum.
The Black Caps’ skipper was critical of Warner during the Ashes in his capacity as a newspaper columnist, calling on the pugnacious opener to show more respect.
McCullum took exception to photos that suggested Warner failed to applaud England’s Joe Root after a century.
Problem is Australia’s new vice-captain insists he clapped for five minutes.
He remains filthy about the slap down, effectively calling on McCullum to zip it and get off his high horse.
“I don’t quite understand how a current cricket captain decides to play this brand of cricket on the field which is the Mr Nice Guys,” Warner said two days before the first Test starts at the Gabba.
“And, then all of a sudden, think he can comment on the way an Ashes series has panned out.
“He doesn’t know what it’s like to play in an Ashes.
“He should actually just watch the game and try and work out what they have to do to try and beat us instead of commenting on it.
“That’s something I found a bit weird at the time … he wanted to do that and obviously he got paid for it.”
Warner clipped McCullum for a separate “poor and immature” piece on Steve Smith, also taking aim at the NZ veteran’s commitment to play a more-congenial brand of cricket.
“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.”
Warner promised the new-look Australian team would maintain traditional aggression.
“We play in-your-face cricket,” he said.
“That’s probably why we dominate in Australia. That’s something we are not going to stop.”
Mitchell Starc also vowed Australia would be “headbutting that line”, seeking to rattle NZ in similar fashion to this year’s World Cup final.
“I didn’t say too much at all, so you might have to ask the guys who were a bit more vocal,” Starc said.
“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 suggested the World Cup winners would draw confidence from their seven-wicket thumping of the Black Caps in the MCG 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 that probably haven’t played too much cricket in these conditions.”
Don Freo
Guest
Which basically amounts to the reality that you like BMac but don'y like DavyW. Deep.
Sid Nandan
Roar Rookie
I don't think Mac was playing mind games. He expressed his thoughts honestly, used his own past experience as a reference point. I didn't find him being "holier than thou". I dont find Smith's response too bad either. Warner is a talented individual on his way to greatness but someone who should just be seen not heard.
AlanKC
Guest
Fair enough Riccardo - never offended by it though.
Rodge
Guest
Andy, once upon a time bowlers would "gift" a batsman his ton by bowling a half volley and the fielding side would shake a batsman's hand after scoring a ton. By claiming every fieldsman should applaud a ton shows your complete lack of sense and understanding of the game.
Oscar
Guest
Australians talk themselves up all the time. And McCullum hasn't been talking about himself
Zim Zam
Roar Rookie
I don't know about NZ, but talking about how good you are doesn't get you any respect in Australia, it gets you the exact opposite. McCullum's actions have been admirable enough, but the fact that he points them out all the time doesn't promote better play from the rest of the cricketing world, it just promotes himself.
Zim Zam
Roar Rookie
True - the Aussie reaction to the whole Broad not walking thing was pretty stupid, to be fair.
Don Freo
Guest
The Boult boy bowls some rubbish. A poor man's Doug Bollinger. That ball indicates a constantly scrambled seam.
Don Freo
Guest
No images at all of McCullum clapping Warner's 50. What a horrible man!
Don Freo
Guest
"Bogan element...mouthing off.." Glad to see you doing it with more class there, Bobbo.
Jerry
Guest
Yeah, I agree to some extent. There's definitely a bit of arrogance involved - it's not BMac's job to be the moral arbiter of world cricket. But you know, we tend to be a bit parochial about these things. I suspect a few Aussies were invoking their ideas of the spirit of cricket in relation to Stuart Broad....
Zim Zam
Roar Rookie
Well, if he was passing judgement on the maturity and morality of the players involved, then yes, I'd still say so. I think any current sportsman writing about other current sportsmen while he is still playing is something he should be very careful about to begin with. If he was talking about the cricket, that's one thing, but he went a lot further than that. Besides, it's really quite arrogant of him to assume that his notion of the 'spirit in which the game should be played' must and should be the same as everyone else's.
Jerry
Guest
He was living in England and writing for an English paper. It's hardly outlandish to write about the Ashes in that context. If a South African rugby player living in England wrote a column about the Rugby World Cup final last week, would that be 'none of his business'?
Bobbo7
Guest
So true Fred. It was great series. The bogan element simply don't understand cricket can be played without some idiot mouthing off before and during the game. It seems it is too hard for some to understand that players like McCullum can grow up and develop a better attitude towards the game. In most cases the issue of the spirit of cricket is put to McCullum during interviews, such as at today's press conference. And it was refreshing to see guys like Jimmy Anderson play without the rubbish in the English series. Unfortunately, Johnson is already mouthing off on Twitter and predictably Warner has been let out of the cage to talk incomprehensible rubbish before the first Test.
Andy
Guest
It's perfectly acceptable to have a punch up in a bar with your team mate though. Bracewell is in the team, right?
Don Freo
Guest
Are they that soft?
Don Freo
Guest
Lose?
AJ
Guest
I'm all for some witty sledging but sadly I don't see any of that from recent Aussie teams. Take Haddin's send off of a Kiwi batsmen who was out and wasn't going play any part in the final again as evidence of this. And his albeit drunken, explanation of why he felt obliged to do this made me feel ashamed to be Australian. I rate these guys right alongside the Australian tennis halfwits although they can possibly claim immaturity as an excuse. They simply have no class whatsoever. Am hoping Smith can show some leadership here. P.S. In my opinion Haddin's bizarre 3rd grade suburban drop of the Ashes urn in the first test was karma for his bogan antics in the world cup.
Jameswm
Guest
I certainly don't remember every Aussie century being roundly lauded by the opponents on the pitch - but the self-flagellists conveniently forget that...
Zim Zam
Roar Rookie
I think he happily comes across as a lot stupider than he actually is. He's a bit of an incurable bogan, sure, but it's a bit of an assumption to think someone is stupid simply because of their upbringing. He can be immature and shoot his mouth off, for sure, but I reckon in terms of smarts he's got more than he lets on. Chris Rogers used to say that as well.