Black Cap Mitchell Santner says Australian sledging calmed his nerves in Adelaide Test

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Santner

The Australian cricket team has come under fire recently for sledging and refusing to shake hands, but Mitchell Santner says a comment from Nathan Lyon settled his nerves during his first innings as a Test match batsman in Adelaide.

“Lyon straight away asked ‘are you nervous?’ I was like ‘ah yeah,’ and that stopped the convo,” Santner said.

“Other than that I was obviously nervous inside I was just trying not to show it.”

It’s possible the Aussies shut up after he hit the first delivery he faced for four, but it wasn’t the only time he was given some extra attention in Adelaide.

In the first innings, with New Zealand losing wickets at a rapid rate, he worked his way to a score of 31 before being bowled by a fired-up Mitchell Starc.

The Aussie quick gave him a verbal send-off, apparently yelling “what are you looking at, c**t” as Santner walked back to the pavilion.

Starc was also fined half his match fee after the first Test in Brisbane for throwing a ball at Mark Craig.

 

 

 

The Aussies were criticised during the second Test in Perth for not shaking hands with New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor after the Kiwi scored an impressive double ton.

Taylor and Australian coach Darren Lehman later made light of the situation, with the New Zealander posting this photo to Twitter (the photo is also noticeable for Martin Guptill with his legs crossed and sipping on a glass of red).

 

 

 

 

 

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