I was clapping Root: David Warner

David Warner has rejected claims he failed to applaud rival Joe Root’s century during the first Ashes Test.

Matthew Hayden and Brendon McCullum both criticised Warner for a lack of applause when Root scored his ton in Cardiff, putting England on track for a big win.

Hayden noted the “common courtesy” of recognising a hundred should have been maintained, while McCullum called on Warner to “show more respect” on the field.

Warner asserts he’s innocent of the charge.

“If the camera had stayed on me for the five minutes he celebrated they’d have seen me clap alongside the other guys,” Warner said.

“The captions they use are always going to be a snapshot of you doing something, and the time that photo was taken was probably a minute and a half after he raised his bat.

“We all clap, we always do and we always will continue acknowledging people’s knocks.

“It was disappointing it came out that I didn’t clap, when I did.”

Warner had a bar-room stoush with Root in 2013, while a recent tell-all interview about that incident left Root feeling his character had been questioned.

Warner was criticised for that interview by many English pundits, while he was also admonished over an incident with Ben Stokes in the first Test.

Stokes performs a ritual at the end of every over he bats, sweeping his bat in an arc along the popping crease.

Warner and Nathan Lyon tried to stop the allrounder from completing the idiosyncratic act at one point in Cardiff, cramping him for room.

“It was actually quite funny when I heard it was very childish of us to do that,” Warner said.

“England were going to be quiet and not say anything, so we thought we may as well see if he would talk.

“And he spoke. He said to us he’s not moving.

“So I said `it’s going to be a long day then’.”

Stokes dismissed Warner’s actions as “pretty silly”, but insisted it failed to rattle him.

“I guess they wanted me to react, but it just didn’t work,” he said prior to the second Test.

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