England, India vie for spot in the final

Warner fined half of match fee for asking Sharma to ‘speak English’

KARACHI: England will take on India at Brisbane as both sides look to bounce back from defeats in their opening matches against Australia, with a spot in the final potentially at stake as the hosts are already nine points clear of the two.

Eion Morgan and his men will be doubly motivated after conceding a bonus point to Australia, who chased down the 235-run target within 40 overs. Morgan will be hoping his batsmen can perform better this time around as the skipper, who made 121, was the only batsman to make more than 30, especially considering the batting strength of their opponents.

The defending champions, meanwhile, fared little better as Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina, who made 138 and 51 respectively, were the only two to make more than 20 as Mitchell Starc was at it again with figures of 6-43.

There is more to play for than just the points though as the inevitable fireworks between the trio of bitter rivals — the big three — began in the series’ second match between Australia and India, with Australian opener David Warner’s comments landing him in hot water.

Warner fined

Warner defended a heated on-field exchange with Indian batsman Rohit Sharma in which he asked the Indian cricketer to ‘speak English’.

Warner added the remarks earned him a fine of 50 per cent of his match fee from the International Cricket Council.

The Australian fielders had taken offence when the Indians went for a single off an overthrow which they wrongly believed was in breach of cricket etiquette.

“When I went over to say something to him, he sort of said something in their language and I said 'speak English' because, if you're going to say something for me to understand, theoretically I cannot speak Hindi," Warner told Sky Sports Radio. “So I did the polite thing and asked him to speak English, therefore he did and I can't repeat what he said.”

Asked whether there was anything wrong in the manner in which he asked the question, Warner said, “I thought I was OK by asking him to speak English and I am going to say it a couple of times if he keeps saying it in Hindi”.

Warner admitted he should not have confronted Sharma but said the pair had been engaging in ‘friendly banter’ during the match, which Australia won with six balls to spare despite a century by Sharma, and didn't feel the need to apologise.

"No, because we were actually going at each other anyway during the game," he said.

During the summer's Test series against India, which saw tense sledging, Warner said he would not be toning down his ‘banter’ and he repeated that stance yesterday.

"If people get on the wrong side of me, I'm not going to back down," he said. "We're always there to play hard aggressive cricket, but you know what comes with that; that's what happens, sometimes you are going to get fined. We've got to keep trying not to cross that line, and we've got to work hard at that, and that's what we're all about -- playing cricket the right way."

Warner was backed up by coach Darren Lehmann, who said Australia would play "hard and fair".

"If the ICC decides we cross the line, then they'll come down on us; we all know that," said Lehmann. “We're always going to teeter pretty close to it — that's the way that we play — we've just got to make sure that we don't cross it."

 

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