Warner brushes off Steyn's 'fast bowler talk'

Australia's vice-captain David Warner has brushed off fast bowler Dale Steyn's intention to target Australia's leadership duo ahead of the Test series with South Africa.

Published : Nov 01, 2016 17:49 IST

David Warner has said he intends to let his bat do the talking.
David Warner has said he intends to let his bat do the talking.
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David Warner has said he intends to let his bat do the talking.

David Warner has brushed off Dale Steyn's intention to target Australia's leadership duo ahead of the Test series with South Africa.

Proteas spearhead Steyn suggested in a recent interview that Australia skipper Steve Smith and vice-captain Warner would be key scalps, claiming: "If you can cut off the head of the snake, the rest of the body tends to fall."

Invited to reply to those comments on Tuesday, two days before the start of the first Test in Perth, a smiling Warner made it clear he was not willing to become embroiled in a war of words. "There's 11 players in the team and if Dale wants to start playing that game then I'll let him do that," said the opener.

"For us, it's about going out there and doing our best and if he feels [it's a case of] cutting the head off the snake and then everyone else falls apart, I don't see that happening at all.

"That's the fast bowler talk. We're not going to go into that, not going to entertain those thoughts or scenarios. We're just going to go out there and back ourselves and do what we do best, and that's play positive cricket. I feel now that I sort of let my batting do the talking and that's all I have to concentrate on and worry about when I'm out there."

Slower WACA

Warner suggested a fired-up South African attack could play into Australia's hands, at a venue traditionally associated with fast, bouncy wickets. "We know the conditions we're going to face out here. Hopefully, they do get carried away and start bowling short and fast, because at the end of the day you've got to bowl at the stumps to get wickets," Warner added.

"I think traditionally over the last four or five years since I've been playing here, it [the WACA pitch] has probably lost that zip.

"We go back a couple of years, we played South Africa in back-to-back one-dayers here and it had nice bounce and carry. When you walk out there and you see that sort of sheen at the WACA, you know it's going to be a fast wicket. We're hoping to see that, because we love that contest with bat and ball."

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