David Warner sends warning to England over Bazball ‘myth’ ahead of Ashes

David Warner has no idea if he can turn English jeers into cheers on his return to Lord’s this summer but refuses to be swayed by the “myth” of Bazball.

Now 38, Warner has spent much of his career as a pantomime villain in the Ashes rivalry, routinely serving as a lightning rod for the hostilities of the England fans.

He was even involved in an ugly spat with members in the historic Long Room in the aftermath of the controversial Jonny Bairstow stumping in the Lord’s Test of 2023.

But he could find himself in the unusual position of being roared on by the same crowd after signing a £120,000 deal to represent London Spirit in this season’s Hundred tournament.

The man himself admits he is not taking anything for granted, though.

“We’ll just have to wait until I step foot on that park first won’t we? Then we’ll see how the reception is,” he said.

“I’ll have to walk past the Long Room first to get to the changing room! I actually want them to come at Australians. I love that stuff, that’s what gets me going but I want them to support London Spirit.

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“If they want to boo me, boo me, but don’t boo the team. We’re not there playing for the Australian cricket team so they can cheer a little bit for myself but most importantly cheer for the team.

“I’m really looking forward to it, I know how English crowds are and it excites me.”

Warner’s own Ashes days are over now but the anticipation is already building for this winter’s tour Down Under. It does not take much pressing for the hard-hitting opener to make his former team-mates favourites to retain the urn, adding a warning over the effectiveness of England’s all-out aggression in Australian conditions.

“I don’t know if Bazball is a myth now but I can’t see it happening in Australia,” he said.

“With the bounce and everything, the fields Australia set last time in England, it would be pretty high risk to play that in Australia.

“It’s probably not the way to go about it. If that is the way they go… it’s going to be high tempo, high energy and we’ll all get a couple of days off at the back end.”

Surprisingly, Warner backed the idea of his new London Spirit colleague Dan Worrall joining the England ranks in time for that series. The 33-year-old Surrey seamer played three ODIs for Australia alongside Warner in 2016 but becomes eligible for his adopted nation this summer and has been a prolific bowler for Surrey.

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“If he does put on that jersey I’ll still be supporting Dan himself,” he said.

“Besides Jimmy Anderson swinging that pink ball around at the Adelaide Oval, there hasn’t be a guy who can get the ball to talk off the wicket like Dan Worrall could.

“I think if he got that opportunity it would be fantastic for him. It would be interesting to see how the crowd receives him in Adelaide when he gets back to his home crowd.”

PA