England’s Joe Root ‘unconcerned’ after David Warner fined for remark

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/jan/19/england-joe-root-david-warner-australia-fine-remark

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The decision to put Joe Root up for interview on the morning David Warner was again top of the news agenda in Australia for all the wrong reasons was either a brilliantly calculated piece of mischief by England or a happy accident.

Either way, it gave Root the chance to comment on the incident the previous evening when Warner, angered by Rohit Sharma’s decision to run on an overthrow, told the batsman to speak English.

Warner has clarified the remark, made during Australia’s four-wicket Tri-Series win against India in Melbourne, and offered an apology to the International Cricket Council, if not Rohit, but not before he awoke to headlines again questioning his aggressive on-field behaviour. “Ugly Dave” roared the back page of Brisbane’s Courier-Mail.

This, remember, is the newspaper so partisan it banned all mention of Stuart Broad by name during last year’s Gabba Test in response to the England bowler’s refusal to walk during the 2013 Ashes opener at Trent Bridge.

Martin Crowe, the former New Zealand captain, also got involved, criticising Warner’s “thuggish” behaviour and fearing the aggressive on-field posturing shown by Australia could soon break out into violence. “Soon enough someone will get hit on a cricket field,” Crowe said. “Warner may just be the one who gets pinned by someone in retaliation. And if it is him who gets hammered, it will be overdue, if wrong.”

Root knows what it’s like to be on the receiving end of a punch from a fellow professional having been the subject of Warner’s ire during their infamous dust-up at Birmingham’s Walkabout bar during the 2013 Champions Trophy.

Yet he does not believe Crowe’s fears are justified: “I can’t see it, to be honest. Someone will have to be in a really bad place to do that. There have been a few things that have happened over the last few months that haven’t been good for the game but I can’t see it leading to a punch-up. It’s not ice hockey.”

Warner seems to excel at everything he does, whether it is scoring a century, as he did in last Friday’s Tri-Series opener against England in Sydney, or getting under opponents’ skins.

Root had little interest in discussing a player he will come up against not only in the remainder of the Tri-Series but also the opening game of the World Cup on 14 February and the Ashes series in England. “I’m not really concerned about his career,” he said. “I’m more concerned about English cricket. Some of it [the trouble Warner gets in] is quite funny but that’s where it ends.”

The deterioration in behaviour is no laughing matter for many. Just ask Jonathan Agnew, the BBC cricket correspondent who courted controversy last week by insinuating Australia had sullied the memory of Phillip Hughes, their late team-mate, by continuing their aggressive approach during the fractious Test series against India.

Darren Lehmann, Australia’s coach, admitted Warner’s spat with Rohit was “not a good look” but backed the Australian’s confrontational attitude. “David is an aggressive character and we support that,” he said. “If the ICC decide it’s not in the spirit of the game or we cross the line, they’ll come down on us. We’re always going to teeter pretty close to it, that’s just the way we play, but we’ve got to make sure we don’t cross it.”

The ICC did come down on Warner , although probably not hard enough for some, when it fined him 50% of his match fee from the MCG game.

Warner attempted to play down any suggestion what he said to Rohit was racist. “When I went over to say something to him, he sort of said something in their language and I said: ‘Speak English because if you’re going to say something, understand that theoretically I cannot speak Hindi’,” he said.

“I did the polite thing and asked him to speak English, therefore he did and I can’t repeat what he said. I was in the wrong … I shouldn’t have engaged him. We’re always there to play hard, aggressive cricket but you know what comes with that – sometimes you are going to get fined.”

Root was more forthcoming on the destructive brilliance of AB de Villiers, whose 31-ball century against West Indies at Johannesburg on Sunday was the fastest in one-day internationals. The South Africa captain helped his side to 439 for two, the second-highest ODI total in history, and Root believes that is something England can aspire to. “It’s an unbelievable effort,” he said. “He is a bit of a freak but as a side that’s what we’re aiming to do, to get those big scores. OK, it would be a serious effort to get anywhere near that but I think we’re not far away.”