Clarke, Katich fire up over team culture

Michael Clarke's impassioned plea for the Australian men's team to "stop worrying about being liked and start worrying about being respected" has drawn scorn from former teammate Simon Katich.

Katich said Clarke had "missed the point" with his comments about the way Australia approached the game, after the former Test captain spoke at length about banned opener David Warner and how best to use his on-field aggression to Australia’s advantage.

Clarke turned his impassioned defence of Warner into a critique of the change of culture under Justin Langer and Tim Paine, claiming a deviation from the previous approach to the game would end in disaster.

"Australian cricket, I think, needs to stop worrying about being liked and start worrying about being respected," Clarke said on Macquarie Sports Radio.

"Play tough Australian cricket. Whether we like it or not, that's in our blood.

"If you try and walk away from it, we might be the most-liked team in the world, but we're not going to win s***. We won't win a game."

The recently released culture review conducted by the Sydney-based Ethics Centre found that, in the years leading up to the sandpaper scandal, the Australia men’s team had developed a ‘win without counting the cost mentality’ which Cricket Australia has pledged to redress.

Katich said Clarke's approach overlooked that Australia had been "a disliked team for a number of years" before events were brought to a head in Cape Town.

"What's been forgotten in all of this is we blatantly cheated and the reason we're at this point now, and what led us to this point, and we talk about the line that was talked about for so long," Katich said on SEN today.

"The point is, we were caught for blatantly cheating and we have to rectify that as soon as possible to earn back the respect of the cricketing public in Australia and worldwide.

"We've been a disliked team for a number of years through that on-field behaviour and it obviously came to a head in Cape Town.

"It's a tough battle for this team taking on the burden of what's come before them.

"They can still play the Australian way in terms of playing competitive and playing fairly, but not going over the top and going across the rules like they did in Cape Town."

Clarke said he admired India captain Virat Kohli for his passion for the game above all else.

"That's how I grew up, watching Warne, Hayden, Border, Chappell – they taught you that you fight for every single run or wicket you could get for your country because it's so important. That's why we love to hate him (Kohli) because he does what we do, and at the moment he's better than us at it," said Clarke.

The comments come as banned pair Warner and Steve Smith trained alongside Australia's Test pace attack at the SCG nets this week.

Both batsmen have spent time in the nets facing Mitch Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins as they prepare for the four-match Domain Test series against India that starts on December 6 in Adelaide.

Clarke said he "loved" having Warner in his team, and that the opener found a combative on-field approach a "turn on" that "makes him play better".

"In saying that there was always a line, he knew that. We had a number of conversations one on one about that line he couldn’t overstep," Clarke said.

"The key to anyone like that is there needs to be control," said Clarke. "There needs to be someone in that leadership, generally it should be your captain because he's in charge of your team on the field, that can control that.

"If that gets the best out of Warner – and I think it does – let him take it as far as you want then say, 'Rightio, back you come, pull your head in, that's enough, no further'."

Clarke and Katich have been at odds many times, most famously when had a dressing room stoush over the timing of the team song in the wake of a victory against South Africa at the Sydney Test in early 2009.