Warner brings out the old ‘Bull’ to ignite the Ashes

MELBOURNE: Age and fatherhood may have mellowed David Warner, but nothing coaxes the old ‘Bull’ out of the Australia vice captain like a home Ashes series.

Warner’s clarion call this week to summon ‘hatred’ for visiting England continued the revival of a once-famed chirpiness that cranked back into gear during the long-running pay dispute between the players and Cricket Australia.

It signalled another nail in the coffin for the ‘Reverend’, the nickname bestowed upon Warner in a pious nod to his quieter demeanour on and off the field in recent seasons.Prior to the ‘Reverend’, there was only the ‘Bull’, a moniker that aptly captured his rampaging ways, whether swinging his over-sized bat in the middle, firing off an angry tweet in the early hours, or throwing a punch at England’s Joe Root.

Off-field domestic bliss and the threat of suspension for multiple code of conduct breaches may have accelerated Warner’s maturity, but the Ashes is a powerful red rag to the bovine spirit within.

“At the moment I’m not going to put any vibes out there or get into a verbal stoush,” Warner said on Australian radio, only moments after describing the series as ‘war’.