The Ashes 2019 expectedly hogged the spotlight for several events during the series. One of the many events was Ben Stokes’ playing a blinder at Headingley in Leeds to take England past the finish line. Australian Test captain Tim Paine has fired back on Stokes’ statement that David Warner’s continuous sledging sparked upon him to pull off the miraculous chase.
The all-rounder, on his publishing of the book “On Fire” has remarked that the New South Wales’ batsman constantly attempted to distract him from the slip cordon. He particularly mentioned that he tried to break his concentration in the early part of the innings on the third evening of the match.
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However, Tim Paine testified that Warner was standing next to him the whole time and that talking is allowed on a cricket field. He backed David Warner by saying that at no point the left-hander abused or sledged the batsman and that he is deploying a tactic to increase his book sales.
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“I was obviously standing next to David the whole time and you are allowed to talk on the cricket field. But by no means was he abusing him or sledging him,” Paine said as quoted by News18. “It just seems to be a common trend in England that they like to use Davey’s name to spike book sales. So good luck to them,” he added.
The keeper-batsman went on to say that the way David Warner handled himself was exceptionally well in the light of English fans constantly booing him. Tim Paine hailed Warner for conducting himself well on the field, mainly when the runs weren’t coming off his bat.
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“I was standing right next to him, I had absolutely no issue. The way David handled himself during the Ashes was excellent. Particularly given the fact he wasn’t scoring a hell of a lot of runs and I’m pretty sure he was on the end of a fair bit himself on and off the field in England.”
“So I thought he did a great job of handling that and held himself really well throughout the series. They write books to sell and they have to get headlines to get sales. We’re going to concentrate on what we do and maintain our own standards. What Ben and England want to do is completely up to them.” The Australian Test captain added.
England made a remarkable comeback in the third Test of the Ashes at Headingley, having bundled out for 67 in their first innings. Another inspired bowling performance in the second innings set the hosts a target of 359 in the fourth innings to level the series. The Kiwi-born all-rounder Ben Stokes sealed the chase with one wicket to spare. The Ashes urn was eventually retained by Australia with the series going for a 2-2 draw.