London [UK], Nov 17 : Australia Test skipper Tim Paine has said that England players use the name of opening batsman David Warner to spike their book sales.
His remarks come after all-rounder Ben Stokes’ revelation that Warner said some words during the Headingley Test and it inspired him to play the match-winning knock against Australia earlier this year.
“I was obviously standing next to David the whole time and you are allowed to talk on the cricket field. But by no means was he abusing him or sledging him. It just seems to be a common trend in England that they like to use Davey’s name to spike book sales. So good luck to them,” ESPN Cricinfo quoted Paine as saying.
Skipper Paine also brought up the abuse that Warner had to endure from England fans during both World Cup and Ashes. The left-handed batsman was handed a ban over his involvement in the ball-tampering scandal in the match against South Africa in 2018.
“I was standing right next to him, I had absolutely no issue. The way David handled himself during the Ashes was excellent. Particularly given the fact he wasn’t scoring a hell of a lot of runs and I’m pretty sure he was on the end of a fair bit himself on and off the field in England,” Paine said.
“So I thought he did a great job of handling that and held himself really well throughout the series. They write books to sell and they have to get headlines to get sales,” he added.
Warner after facing a one-year suspension has shown a significant change in his demeanour on the field.
Stokes in his book titled ‘On fire’ has claimed that Warner spurred him on during the Headingley Test. He also claimed that he would have accepted similar words from any other opponent than him.
“I had extra personal motivation due to some things that were said to me out on the field on the evening of day three when I was trying to get through to stumps. A few of the Aussies were being quite chirpy, but in particular, David Warner seemed to have his heart set on disrupting me,” Stokes had said.
“He just wouldn’t shut up for most of my time out there. I could accept it from just about any other opponent. Truly. Not from him, though. The changed man he was adamant he’d become, the one that hardly said boo to a goose and even went as far as claiming he had been re-nicknamed ‘Humble’ by his Australia teammates, had disappeared. Maybe his lack of form in his new guise had persuaded him that he needed to get the bull back,” he added.
Stokes also revealed that he muttered ‘Bloody Warner’ a few times in the dressing room during the Test at Headingley. He went on to play a match-winning knock of 135 runs to take England to a victory by one wicket.
The Ashes had ended as a 2-2 draw this year, and Australia was able to regain the ‘Urn’ as they had previously won the series back home.
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