David Warner will play his final bilateral international cricket series against New Zealand this week, but no fond farewell is expected from Black Caps fans in Wellington and Auckland at the opener in Australia.
The 37-year-old has already retired from Test and One-Day cricket but has postponed his departure from the shortest format of the game until after the World Cup in the Caribbean and the United States in June.
Warner, who will play for Australia in the opening game of the Twenty20 series against New Zealand at Wellington Stadium on Wednesday and the following two games at Eden Park, said he would not allow abuse to affect his game.
“Here it is always the harsh reality that we are neighbors, in sport we like to beat each other,” said Warner on Monday in the New Zealand capital.
“From that perspective, we expect the audience to come at us as hard as they come. As we always say, it’s in one ear and out the other – if I hear anything at all.”
Warner described local fans as “derogatory and quite vulgar” after the Australians were insulted during a Test and ODI tour of New Zealand in 2016.
“I enjoy playing here,” Warner added. “It’s about coming out and trying to do my best and score runs.
“The crowd, yes, they got personal, but if they have to get personal, that’s their character… If you want to pay your money to come and insult people, you’ve got to go back and lie in your own bed.”
“We are here to play the game of cricket we love and enjoy and to put bums in the seats to keep the game going.”
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Warner said he would continue his career in Twenty20 franchise leagues around the world for “a few more years”.
Although he also agreed to give his opinion on the game in media relations, Warner said he was not considering a career in politics.
“Yeah, look, I’ll save that for another time,” he said. “I think I would absolutely come under fire if I went into politics.”
