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.
Such a hero Mitchell Starc. Calling Santner a c**t? On the 1st anniv of Phil Hughes death? As impressive as your Ashes performance mate...
— Martin Devlin (@DevlinLive) November 27, 2015
Mitch Starc commemorating the anniversary of the Guardianship of cricket by giving Santner the full spittle send-off
— Sports Freak (@Sportsfreakconz) November 27, 2015
Apparently Starc just told Santner that he wanted to "C U Next Time"
— Michael Wagener (@Mykuhl) November 27, 2015
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).
Look who just shook my hand 😂😂😂 @darren_lehmann pic.twitter.com/249EnmTLlY
— Ross Taylor (@RossLTaylor) November 17, 2015