Warner: 'We are neighbours and like to beat each other in sport'

“To be fair, over here the harsh reality is that we are neighbours and like to beat each other in sport,” said Warner

Australia batting great David Warner said Monday he expected a hostile reception when the world champions begin a Twenty20 series in New Zealand this week. New Zealand host Australia in Wellington on Wednesday in the first of three T20 matches before a two-Test series.

Warner eight years ago accused New Zealand fans of “derogatory and vulgar” abuse aimed at him and his teammates during Australia’s last Test tour in 2016. Warner, 37, who stepped down from Test cricket in January, is expecting more barracking from Black Caps fans during the series, which moves to Auckland for the second and third matches on Friday and Sunday.

“To be fair, over here the harsh reality is that we are neighbours and like to beat each other in sport,” said Warner. 

“From that perspective, we are going to be expecting the crowd to come at us as hard as they can.” Warner, who will retire from white-ball cricket following June’s T20 World Cup in the West Indies and United States, said Australia will ignore the noise. 

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“The crowd, yeah, they got personal. If they have to get personal, that is their character. I just go about my business,” he said. “That is upon each individual. If you pay your money to come and abuse people, then you have to go back and lie in your own bed. 

“We are just here to play the game we love and put bums on seats to keep the game going. As we always say, it’s ‘in one ear, out the other’, if I actually hear anything. I enjoy playing here.” 

Warner, who has scored 3,067 runs in T20 cricket since his debut in 2009, hopes a T20 series win for Australia can give them momentum going into the first Test in Wellington on February 29. “It’d be great, not just from a T20 perspective, but also for the guys to win a Test series over here would be fantastic,” he added.

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