Australia are on a high after their comprehensive win against England in the 2nd Test of the Ashes at the Lord’s on Sunday. With the England team struggling to cope up with the belligerent Aussies, the English media has been trying its best to offer a helping hand by creating what appears to be an entirely imaginary feud between the two Australian openers, David Warner and Chris Rogers.
The commentators on Sky Sports made a big deal about Rogers and Warner not communicating with each other during their opening wicket partnership. Indian commentator Ravi Shastri added fuel to the fire saying “all cricket teams have players in it who don’t talk to each other and this is clearly an example of that”.
But really, it was all rather absurd as Warner and Rogers put up more runs during their first wicket partnership than England did in their entire second innings! England probably learned the hard way that in cricket it is winning that really counts, not how many friends you have in your own team.
There is no doubt that Warner and Rogers are as unlike each other as chalk and cheese. Rogers is a serious man, bookish and scholarly, who plays his cricket the old fashioned way. Warner is a very successful Twentyt20/IPL star who doubles up as an effective Test batsman as well, a swashbuckler, who goes after the bowling, no matter the condition of the match. Defense is clearly not for him.
David Warner laughed off the rumors of his rift with Rogers, but and he explained why the duo weren’t talking to each during the innings, “Chris said to me the grandstand is moving and I said ‘no it’s not’. I was worried, I had no idea what was going on. I came down the wicket and I had to look twice because I didn’t really know what was going on and with all the talk of him and me not getting along I thought it was just him not wanting to come and talk to me.”
Warner tried to make sense of why the English media began all the talk of a feud between the two men: “It’s quite funny, obviously in Australia we talk about yin and yang, two different people as in he reads a lot of books, I wouldn’t read a book, he is on his Kindle but I’m on my iPhone looking at news. But it is totally blown out of proportion, I have no idea where it has come from, but it doesn’t help when your mates like Brad Haddin stir the porridge a little bit and tell people we actually don’t like each other.
“We get along very well, everyone in the group knows that we always … everyone gives each other banter and for some reasons we get picked on. When we put on the hundred partnership in the second innings I came down the wicket and shook his hand and said ‘mate you can’t leave me’. He just laughed. He is playing with freedom, he is playing with a clear mind.
“I don’t know what he said in the papers about his career afterwards but he is on a mission to score as many runs as he can and that’s the positive attitude he brings to the table with his experience. He is in a great frame of mind at the moment. He said the other day he is playing his best to date for Australia. I would love to see him go on but he will know when it is time.”
Well, back to the cricket then. Follow us on IndiaBet.org as we cover the crucial third Test of the Investec Ashes to be played on 29th July at Birmingham.
