Warner fears ICC's sledging crackdown bad for fans

David Warner has again waded into the murky waters of sledging, suggesting that recent moves by the ICC to crack down on any on-field exchanges during international fixtures were over the top.

In recent times, Warner has borne the brunt of the governing body’s plan to clean the game up, which chief executive Dave Richardson vocalised ahead of this year’s World Cup, cricket’s showpiece event.

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Twice in the past 18 months the left-hander was fined for comments both on and off the field: first during the series in South Africa in which he inferred a ball tampering offence; and second following a confrontation with India’s Rohit Sharma during the Australian summer.

Last month in the Caribbean, Warner indicated his intention to distance himself from the reputation he had built through his career as one of the Australian team’s more vocal characters.

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However the 28-year-old yesterday told Fairfax that he believed the game and its players were becoming homogenised and sanitised, and as such supporters of the sport were being deprived of entertainment provided by natural characters.

"I'm on my last warning from the ICC. These rules are being clamped down now," he said. "They're really honing in on players celebrating wickets and obviously a bit of banter on the field. If you walk towards a player the umpires are going to fine you, you've got to be smart with what you do.

"But … you want to see that banter out there. You want the play-and-miss, and the bowler comes down the wicket and gives you a stare.

"I feel that sometimes it could be taking away from the viewers, that the viewers love that. You know that when you get out there the crowd gets into it, they enjoy that stuff.

"Obviously I put my hand up myself ... I've crossed the line here and there and we've got to try and make sure we don't get into confrontations.

"You've got to be very smart and wise around those umpires because no doubt they're out to get you if you stuff up.”

Warner also insisted that the nature of the exchanges between players was misrepresented, explaining that the banter was far less sinister than perhaps made out in the media.

"I think everyone that is sitting behind the TV screens has to realise that ... it's not serious,” he added. “There are no threats or anything out there … it's about producing entertainment for people that are at home watching."

The opening batsman let his bat do the talking on day one against Essex, blasting 94 from 86 deliveries as he narrowly missed out on making a century in a session.

After missing the opening two Tests of the 2013 UK-based Ashes due to disciplinary reasons, Warner has established himself as one of world cricket’s best Test batsmen.

Interestingly, his 38 matches in Baggy Green can be evenly divided by what can now clearly be defined as a seminal point in his career; he had played 19 Tests beforehand, for three hundreds.

In the 19 since, he has piled on another nine centuries, a figure matched only by his similarly transformed teammate Steven Smith in the same period worldwide, while only Smith (2,094 at 72.20) has scored more runs than his 1,968 (ave 53.18). 

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