It was little more than a throw-away quip from a retired player.
But yet again David Warner has successfully managed to get under the skin of the English cricket community by suggesting the tourists are ‘playing for a moral victory’ in the upcoming Ashes series.
In fact such is the agitation, the respected Wisden cricket podcast dedicated a full 15 minutes to dissect the topic this week, even resorting to dictionary definitions of what a ‘moral victory’ actually is.
“I’ve been getting sick to death of this moral victory nonsense,” Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack editor and Daily Mail journalist Lawrence Booth said, explaining the ongoing narrative stems not from the controversial Jonny Bairstow stumping at Lords in 2023, but the lead-up to fifth test at the Oval when Harry Brook simply responded to comments by a journalist.
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“From a harmless repetition of a journalist’s words has sprung an entire culture in which Australia think that any England win has to be a moral victory,” Booth said.
“It has nothing to do with the Bairstow stumping and everything to do with Australian perceptions of how they think England play the game.
“It was just a harmless remark by Harry Brook that’s turned into a philosophy in the minds of some people, it’s gone mad.”
‘The Warner thing was so ugly on so many levels ... but we are just as moronic’
Booth’s Wisden colleague Phil Walker brought a slightly less earnest view to the conversation, suggesting it’s perhaps the lack of humour and nuance that’s to blame for the way Brook’s comments continue to fuel friction between the Ashes rivals.
“It’s the agonising lack of any sense of humour, that’s what bothers me, if people take any of this seriously then they’re missing the point,” Walker said.
“The Warner thing was so ugly on so many levels, it seemed to encapsulate bad jokes, amplified by bad actors, delivered by bad communicators.
“There’s a fundamental lack of lightness in these conversations—and we’re probably guilty of it ourselves, hand-wringing ourselves into oblivion over here (in England), we are just as moronic as far as I’m concerned.”
With the first Ashes test in Perth still over a month away, Warner’s comments are unlikely to be the final barbs thrown by either side.
Strap yourselves in cricket fans.