Exum hype with no end in sight

NBA hopeful Dante Exum playing for Lake Ginninderra College. Picture: Michael Klein. Source: Michael Klein / News Limited

NOT often do you see an array of photographers, cameramen and hoops scribes crammed into court one at Kilsyth Basketball Centre at 9am on a Monday for a high school championship match.

But even less often is there a young baller in action who is widely tipped to be a top-three pick in the NBA draft.

Melbourne-born combo guard Dante Exum - the youngster on every NBA scout's lips - was the headline act on Monday for the start of the Australian School Championships.

Such is the hype, Exum had his own designated cameraman shooting his every move for US sports website giant The Bleacher Report.

There was also a separate camera crew shooting for NBA scouts in the United States in a throwback to the days when LeBron James' every high school game would become an event.

The crowd was full of players from other schools, all keen to catch a glimpse of the future star in action.

Dante Exum playing in the National High School Championships. Picture: Michael Klein Source: News Limited

Exum didn't disappoint - dropping 32 points in Lake Ginninderra College's 96-90 win over Caulfield Grammar.

The 18-year-old even found himself posing for photos with some starstruck students after his match.

What adds to the intrigue is that Exum is yet to declare his future plans.

The son of former NBL import Cecil Exum - who was in the stands - is still wrestling with the decision of whether to bypass the long-held plan to play US college ball to nominate for the 2014 NBA draft.

Exum said he would make his decision "by February" at the latest.

"To be honest, I haven't been thinking about it too much," Exum said.

"I'm just trying to go with it.

"I will make my decision with my whole family.

Dante Exum has NBA scouts salivating and is considering skipping college basketball. Source: News Limited

"It shouldn't be too hard to make - I just want to make sure I use my time right so I make the right decision."

So, how does all the attention sit with him?

"There has been a lot of hype," Exum said.

"But I also have been a bit undercover being in Australia.

"It has been good still getting the hype while still being undercover.

"I don't mind it and I have adjusted well to it."

The speedy Exum dazzled the crowd yesterday with a selection of slick crossovers and a couple of big dunks.

Lake Ginninderra College coach Jason Denley said he had no doubt Exum was worthy of all the attention.

The hype is valid because of the excellent character he has," Denley said.

"He is a great performer, not only for school but for club and for country.

"I'm very impressed with him as a person away from the floor and the plaudits he receives from any person that gets to know him is thoroughly deserved."

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Training halts Buddy's party

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MAYBE if they dangled a blonde in front he might have fared a little better.

Told him there was a bikini contest waiting at the end.

Instead, the Sydney Swans were happy to let Lance Franklin, who goes by the alter ago Buddy, take his place at the back of his running group as he starts the long haul back to full fitness.

Casual readers might find it surprising to see Franklin photographed in training gear and learn that he actually has some athletic ability.

They would be forgiven for thinking this way after Franklin emerged as the life of the party at the Melbourne Cup carnival, in bow tie and boater, charming at least one international supermodel.

He headed home to Sydney and was snapped doing a world record "phwoar!'' at a Bondi bikini contest, where he has become a regular sighting.

Nightclub sightings, Bondi cruises, and Franklin has emerged perfect fodder for a celebrity-obsessed city like Sydney.

It prompted a small tip from Swans legend Adam Goodes.

"On day one the first thing I'm going to be looking at is how fit he is when he rocks up to training," he said.

Goodes, who joined Franklin at training yesterday, wouldn't be wholly disappointed.

Yet Goodes' concern is perhaps more in line with the wider football community.

While Franklin's agent said he signed with Sydney to partly escape the "fishbowl" existence of being an AFL star in an AFL town, those who know him say the opposite is true.

Model Kate Upton and Sydney star Lance Franklin with the Melbourne Cup. Picture: Alex Coppel. Source: News Limited

Franklin loves the limelight, and the truth of his move from Melbourne to Sydney is that it takes him from being an AFL player in an AFL town to a personality in a celebrity-obsessed town.

Football is now merely his vehicle.

Yet already there have been whispers of his enthusiasm for the party lifestyle as he acclimatises, prompting a subtle defence from Swans coach John Longmire yesterday.

"I'm not sure whether it's a case of pulling him in line," he said.

"There's a case of every player on our list [being] entitled to an off-season"

It has greater relevance with the Swans, of course.

The Swans have the great unwritten rule in Australian sport: The No Dickheads Policy, which has been widely copied but never reproduced.

They famously built the 2005 premiership on the back of refusing to tolerate jerks on their roster and have held true to its sentiment through a rare run of success in the salary cap era. This included the 2012 premiership.

Yet if anyone appears as though they will challenge the rule it is, at least based on early running, Franklin.

He is a superstar, so more inclined to have his behaviour tolerated. And he appears slow to understand its implications, though it was the off-season.

Still, it demands the question, at what point does a player go from being a valued team member, as they say, to being a dickhead?

Longmire looked a little taken aback when the question was put to him yesterday, although it wasn't intended with any malice.

"I just think it's pretty simple," he said.

"It's just preparing well on and off the ground to give yourself the best possible chance to be a good player, no matter who you are.

"Regardless of whether its Lance Franklin or Zac Jones, the expectation is it work hard and prepare for the season ahead."

Franklin performed strongly in the club's three kilometre time trial, Longmire said, leading with Ted Richards among the club's key playing group.

Franklin settled to the rear of his group when the Swans broke into groups for 300m and 400m efforts, and while some in the group starting 10 seconds behind caught him, he kept on giving.

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Ollie heads back to Hong Kong

Damien Oliver riding Nordic Empire at Flemington. (Photo by Vince Caligiuri/Getty Images) Source: Vince Caligiuri / Getty Images

DAMIEN Oliver will notch his 100th Group 1 win if he can ride both Linton and Dandino to victory at Hong Kong's international meeting on Sunday.

Oliver, 41, will ride Linton in the $2 million International Mile and Dandino in the $2 million Vase at Sha Tin.

Oliver, who reached 98 Group 1s when he won the Melbourne Cup on Fiorente, won't be heading into unchartered waters in Hong Kong. He won the 2000 and 2001 International Sprint on Falvelon, as well as the 1994 International Cup on State Taj.

He also spent a season there.

"I was based there in the late 1990s and won quite a few races, and obviously I've had success in some of their majors on Falvelon and State Taj," Oliver said.

Oliver, who leads the Victorian premiership with 19 winners this season, will fly out on Saturday night.

He is happy with both his Hong Kong rides, particularly Dandino, who ran fifth in the Melbourne Cup when given a task from the rear by international jockey Ryan Moore.

Dunaden (2011) and Red Cadeaux last year have won the Hong Kong Vase after competing in the Melbourne Cup.

Oliver took heart from Dunaden's fifth in the Japan Cup a fortnight ago after the French horse ran 11th in the Melbourne Cup.

"The form from the Melbourne Cup is looking good with Dunaden running so well in the Japan Cup,'' Oliver said.

"I think it just proves that the Melbourne Cup has got stronger and it's a good form guide.

"I haven't had a good look at the field yet, but just on his form, he (Dandino) would have to be a great chance.

"I have ridden him only in trackwork but he has done well and is a nice horse."

Oliver's Cup win on Fiorente played a part in getting the ride on Dandino, after a phone call to trainer Marco Botti.

"He was impressed with my ride in the Melbourne Cup and he was keen to have me ride the horse,'' Oliver said.

Other Melbourne Cup runners in the Vase are the three that finished just behind Fiorente - Red Cadeaux, Mount Athos and Simenon - and Dunaden.

Craig Williams will fly in from Japan to ride Mount Athos for trainer Luca Cumani.

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Scott's homecoming cannot be faulted

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IT TURNS out when Adam Scott crosses the Pacific to start a new season on the US PGA Tour next month he won't be on foot.

That achingly disappointing bogey at the last of 288 awe inspiring holes in Australia was - with Scott's quintuple bogey nine during the World Cup and some missed putts on the last day at Royal Sydney - a rare sign of fallibility from a man who had been turning water hazards into wine.

From the moment Scott signed the first of thousands of autographs on the Gold Coast, to the moment he was followed up the 18th at Royal Sydney by a Normanesque throng, Scott's demeanour and play during his homecoming parade could not be faulted.

Yes, Scott fell either a poor club selection or perhaps an adrenalin charged swing short of completing the Triple Crown. But not since Norman's swashbuckling days has a player created such excitement, or delivered such routine excellence.

And Norman was often playing in star-studded fields at a time when Australian tournaments offered more than chump change by global standards; and when greater media exposure and higher participation rates meant the baked-on golf audience was larger than now.

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So, having used his Masters victory to give Australian golf precious momentum, what next for Scott?

As he made a mockery of Royal Sydney last Thursday with that exquisite 62, it was tempting to suggest he would return to the international arena and enjoy similar dominance. In that context, Rory McIlroy's intense final day challenge was a timely cold shower.

Rather than some kind of Tigeresque mauling of the world's best, the reasonable expectation is that Scott will merely continue to put himself in contention in the majors. A position that, in turn, creates an intense test of technique, character and course management.

Scott's many good rounds here were a reminder of the sublime golf and measured temperament that won the Masters. His last hole at Royal Sydney was a mini-version of his crash at Royal Lytham and St Annes in 2012 when he surrendered a four-shot lead with four to play.

That day Scott did not necessarily hit the ball badly, or even ''choke'' as some inevitably suggested. He too often hit in the wrong places. Just as he did with a well-struck - too well struck - approach to the 18th.

Adam Scott after missing his putt on the 18th to lose the Australian Open. Picture: Phil Hillyard Source: News Limited

You also need to factor in the calibre of the opposition Scott meets outside Australia. Tiger Woods remains a force, McIlroy has worked out which end of his new clubs to grip, Jason Day reeks of a major title and the laconic Lee Westwood will win a major somewhere - surely. Scott is the world No.2 but, more realistically, one of a clutch of equals.

But what Scott and Day have demonstrated in the past month is that, unlike star-depleted tennis, Australia's best is more than good enough to produce consistently excellent performances.

It is difficult to imagine Australia's male tennis players emulating even that brief period when Pat Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt won majors and Mark Philippoussis made a Wimbledon final. But with Scott, Day and a bunch of experienced and promising young players, contemporary Australian players could certainly recreate golf's most recent golden patch when Norman, Wayne Grady, Ian Baker-Finch and Steve Elkington won majors.

This is Australian golf's blessing. Even at a time when club memberships have declined and the local tournament scene dwindled, the game continues to produce a production line of outstanding champions and promising juniors.

Why? Unlike some sports, golf's talent identification and coaching academies - in both the government and private sector - flourished in the period when interest in the game was at its peak. Scott's success should help ensure the driving ranges are well stocked with aspiring young players.

Unfortunately we don't see the most talented players at home often. Which in turn makes it vital for the game's long term health that the homegrown stars perform, on and off the fairway, when they do play here.

Jason Day's victory at the World Cup, in trying personal circumstances, was outstanding. Scott's entire Australian season was an absolute triumph.

For local authorities promoting the game here in the past few years must have seemed, at times, like making a 260 metre carry across a pond to a rock hard green. This week it must seem like a tap in.

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Time to be brave and head abroad

Linton is the sole Australian entrant at Sha Tin in the big mile race next Saturday. Picture: Peter Wallis Source: Peter Wallis / News Limited

AUSTRALIAN trainers sneer at the supposed one-dimensional mindsets of their overseas contemporaries.

The view seems to be that the hyphenated Lords who train, the squires of Newmarket, prepare horses the same as their dad, who trained the same as his.

Yet it is these supposedly blinkered Europeans who are hopping around the world's premier race meets with their best horses, not the supposedly innovative and adventurous Australians.

Even Hong Kong, which is in our region, seems all a bit too hard for us when in fact it should be embraced as not just a challenge but an essential port of call.

It seems embarrassing that we are insular whereas we should be game.

If Peter Moody hadn't reluctantly accepted the Royal Ascot challenge with Black Caviar, her story would simply be a lesser one. Phar Lap was only immortal because he took on the Yanks and beat them.

At best we muster a trickle to the Hong Kong international races each December. Some years we don't have a runner at all to pit against the world's best.

At Sha Tin next Saturday Australia will be represented by Linton in the big mile race.

Last year it was Alcopop and Sea Siren.

In the decade before that, we were hardly there at all, besides a reasonable representation in the sprint.

Hong Kong's not easy, even if it is relatively close.

This year a vaccination hiccup affected nominations. Some horses, like Buffering last year, react poorly to the horse flu injections.

Quarantine - two weeks going in, two weeks going out - is also a greater hindrance to us than the Europeans.

But you wonder about our reluctance to flock to Hong Kong - and Dubai, and other hot spots - when you consider the almost casual ease of such trips for blokes like Ed Dunlop and Mikkel Delzangles.

In 2011 Dunaden skipped from his Melbourne Cup win to Hong Kong, where he won the Vase, then crammed in France, England, Flemington, Hong Kong, Dubai, then back to the UK, then Flemington, in a lucrative 18 months.

Red Cadeaux was nosed out by Dunaden at Flemington in 2011, ran third in Hong Kong, then ran in the UK, Japan (twice, six months apart), Hong Kong again (where he won), Dubai and Singapore.

Our big prizemoney is some reason to stay home and plunder but Dunaden and Red Cadeaux, who wouldn't earn two bob at home, have won $7 and $6 million worldwide.

These top class European based stayers are global gypsies, cherry picking the world's most lucrative prizes, no matter when they appear on the calendar.

Yet our trainers are shackled to a mindset that horses can peak only for one grand final per rigid campaign; five or six runs, the target, then an essential six weeks in the paddock. Some overseas horses have never seen a paddock.

The Europeans might think we complicate the training of these horses.

They seem to get them fit, hold that fitness, and plunder, much the same as human athletes who campaign year-round.

You have to wonder if it's our trainers who lack innovation, not theirs.

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Hopeful Whincup holds no fears

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JAMIE Whincup does not fear Sydney.

The four-time V8 Supercars champion will be the first to tell you that he has never even scored a podium on the streets around Sydney Olympic Park. He will even push that line because he loves being the underdog.

Delve a little deep into the Red Bull top gun's failure to win the Sydney 500 and you will actually find the roots lie in success.

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Yes, Whincup has never won a Sydney 500 race, but the concrete walls, narrow straights, and suspension busting kerbs have delivered him four championships.

He has sacrificed a small trophy for a much bigger one. Played it safe to win it all.

"Yeah, that's right,'' Whincup says. "I guess I have been a bit conservative. I have been trying to win championships not races.''

Whincup's best result at the Sydney 500 is fifth.

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Incredibly, it is the only race he has not won on the V8 circuit. But he hasn't had to win it. He has always entered the season-ending race only needing to protect his position in the championship.

This is the only track where Whincup is yet to go for broke, where he hasn't pushed the limits. The only time of year when he won't do anything to win a race.

"I haven't had to win,'' Whincup says. "I have had to be conservative and make sure we have enough points to secure the championship.''

. Jamie Whincup celebrates a Red Bull Racing win. Source: News Limited

So for those saying he won't win the championship because Sydney is his bogy track, take note: Whincup actually likes Sydney.

That will change this weekend because he has teammate Craig Lowndes breathing down his neck and FPR's Mark Winterbottom ready to capitalise on any Red Bull mistake.

"I don't fear it,'' Whincup says of the Sydney 500. "I have had good pace there and been in the box seat a couple of times. A blew a tyre once and other years I have had bad luck.

"But we have had really good speed there and it is a track I really enjoy. So I don't fear we won't have the pace and I know it is going to be dog eat dog. I don't want to talk ahead of myself, but I do feel we have all the ingredients to do a good job.''

Whincup has done what has been needed to win the championship at Sydney in the past. So his history of failure will tell you he is about to win.

"This year is different,'' he points out.

"I don't have that luxury, we just have to go for it. I can't sit back. There are not just two in it this year but four. If you are watching just one of them then one of the others will pop up.''

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Record-breaking Sydney march on

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SURGING Sydney chalked up a club record fourth straight win, with new striker Ranko Despotovic again finding the net in a 2-0 A-League home victory over Newcastle.

The 30 year-old Serbian striker, who scored the match-winner against Wellington last week after making his debut off the bench, produced a longer super sub cameo on Saturday.

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His match-clinching goal on the hour pushed Sydney up to second spot.

Despotovic entered the game at Allianz Stadium after 43 minutes, when skipper Alessandro Del Piero walked off with what appeared to be a hamstring issue.

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Del Piero, who struggled to have any impact, was booked by referee Ben Williams for leaving the pitch before the officials were notified of any substitution.

Any frustration Sydney felt then dissipated two minutes later, when they took the lead on the stroke of halftime.

Joel Chianese, who scored the opening goal of the season against the Jets seven weeks earlier, again ended a scoreless stalemate.

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He pounced on a fine cross from left back Ali Abbas, controlled the ball with his first touch and drilled it past goalkeeper Mark Birighitti with his second.

The match tilted decisively towards Sydney in a three-minute period early in the second half.

With Newcastle 1-0 down, an unmarked Nathan Burns blazed over from close range.

The Jets, who'd been undefeated after round one, were made to pay for his profligacy on the hour, as Despotovic brushed past Taylor Regan and beat Birighitti inside his near post.

Sydney had the edge in possession in a frenetic and tightly contested first half, but they also had the busier goalkeeper.

Vedran Janjetovic knocked down a stinging shot from in-from Jets striker Adam Taggart and he dealt comfortably with a weak effort from Scott Neville.

Sydney almost lost their lead in the first 30 seconds of the second half after midfielder Nick Carle lost possession in his own half.

Taggart, who had scored six goals in the Jets' last three games, was right through, but his attempted chip over Janjetovic, was acrobatically headed clear by the Sydney shot stopper.

Former England striker Emile Heskey, who was making his first start of the season for the Jets, was replaced in the 58th minute, and Taggart shot wide from close range just before the end.

Our Match Centre features video highlights, play-by-play updates, stats and polls.

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No rest for Ryano, says Boof

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DARREN Lehmann won't trash his own anti-rotation policy, insisting Ryan Harris will spearhead an Australian side hell-bent on proving they're no "one hit wonders" in Adelaide.

Australia will also push cricket's dangerous bowling laws to the limit with lethal left-armer Mitchell Johnson, Harris and Peter Siddle continuing their bouncer barrage against England. However, there will be no on-field mention of fallen England batsman Jonathan Trott in the second Test starting Thursday.

The first key change of the Lehmann reign as Australian coach in June saw the controversial rotation policy of bowlers dumped in Test series.

It won't be revived in Adelaide with Lehmann wanting the quality that's bankrolled Harris' 76 wickets in 17 Tests.

"We don't rotate, if you are fit you play. The best XI will play for Australia each and every game," said Lehmann.

Lehmann's incredible title success coaching Queensland and Deccan Chargers in the Indian Premier League was predicated on astute tactics. The former Test batsman respects sports science but won't be ruled by it.

Asked if Harris, 34, remained the key to reclaiming the Ashes, Lehmann said: "Very much so, a world class bowler."

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"Ryan is a key player. If he is fully fit he will play, I have said that all along. We are not changing our stance. I reckon he will be fit."

Resting "Ryano" and his fragile frame goes against the grain for Lehmann - desperate to fuel the power shift started in Brisbane with a knockout blow and 2-0 scoreline in Adelaide.

"It is just one Test win. We have to back that up and show we are the side we want to become not just one-hit wonders. We can't rest on our laurels after one Test," said Lehmann, preferring to tweak 'plans' rather than a winning combination.

England questioned match officials during the 381-run first Test loss on the rules of bowling intimidation. Lehmann won't pull back Australia's short pitched onslaught that saw England fold for 136 and 179 at the Gabba - even on a flatter Adelaide deck.

"We will use our (short ball) quota where possible and work our plans as we have done. Brisbane had some pace and bounce in it, Adelaide might be different, it might reverse or swing a bit more," he said.

"It is a case of looking at the best XI to get a result here."

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Lehmann indicated England counterpart Andy Flower's public offer to discuss a sledging code of conduct was not needed.

Outspoken opener Warner had been counselled by Lehmann over comments directed to "weak" Trott. There will be no reference to the No.3 - back in England on stress leave.

"He understands where the line is,' said Lehmann of Warner. He said himself he crossed the line so that is a better understanding of the game," Lehmann said.

"Obviously we didn't know what was going on with Jonathan Trott. That certainly won't be talked about in this Test match at all."

Lehmann said allrounder James Faulkner was unlucky to miss out in Brisbane but Australia wanted a spin option and were repaid by Nathan Lyon's four wickets. Lehmann also foreshadowed an increased bowling workload for allrounder Shane Watson - lessening the strain on veteran Harris.

"I thought our bowling group as a whole did a great job," said Lehmann.

"Nathan Lyon got some wickets, Shane Watson didn't have to bowl as much as we thought he would in the first one. That is an advantage as well."

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White's lucky escape

Simon White back at training after overcoming a broken neck. Picture: Hamish Blair Source: CAS Hamish Blair / News Limited

SIMON White doesn't like to think about what might have happened had a fractured vertebrae in his neck remained undetected and he played for Carlton just week a week later.<image-web-group channel="Web" group="SpecialElement"> <image-web dtxInsert="Gallery Portrait (366x488)" fileref="/NewsLimited/Content/MET/Images/NWK/Sport/AFL/Cropped/2013-11-27/NEWSMMGLPICT000019270519-ksa-GalleryPortrait366x488-366x488@Web-HeraldSun.jpg?uuid=1e6075c2-5802-11e3-8974-69a7d7a3124c" height="488" id="GalleryPortrait366x488" tmx="366 488 366 488" width="366" xtransform="1 0 0 1 0 0"></image-web> <image-web-caption> <p>Simon White in a neck brace. Source: Twitter</p> </image-web-caption> </image-web-group>

In a bizarre chain of events, the Blues defender trained and complete a pilates session only a few days after suffering a direct hit to his head while playing for the Blues' VFL affiliate side Northern Bullants in July.

He had taken possession of the ball and was on his feet with his head lowered to avoid a Box Hill Hawk tackler when he heard a crack after receiving a bump to the head.

"It was just a bit of a wet day and I sort of jumped up to grab the ball and I saw a guy coming at me and I thought I could side step him and go under his arm and I don't know whether I slipped or misjudged him but I had my head down and he hit me straight on top of the head," he said.

"At that stage it just felt like my neck had cracked and I didn't think anything of it."

Amazingly White, who had a free kicked awarded against him for holding the ball, had little discomfort at the time and even a couple of days later experienced only what he described as a stiff neck.

In an indirect way Blues coach Mick Malthouse saved him from what could have been a disastrous outcome when he went to the bench after White came from the ground and said don't put him back as he'd be playing for Carlton against Gold Coast the following Saturday.

"It was on the Saturday and I didn't think much of it and on Sunday I got it checked by the doctor again and he was reasonably happy with it and at the start thought it was just whip lash," White said.

"I trained on Monday and they had another look at it on the Tuesday and I was still moving fine but the doc said he wouldn't mind having a look at it and I went down and had a scan.

"I went off and did pilates and after that I had about eight missed calls and there were a couple of messages from the doc who told me to ring him urgently."

A neurosurgeon told him he'd have to wear a cervical brace, from his neck to his waist, for the next two months after explaining that the scan had revealed the C3 vertebra was fractured three quarters of the way through.

Simon White is helped off the ground after hurting his knee against Werribee. Source: News Limited

White, who says he'll be available for the NAB Cup, said he definitely would have played, risking serious spinal cord damage, if hadn't been ordered to have the scan.

"It was all a bit of a shock and I was fairly lucky in the end," he said.

"The brace wasn't terribly comfortable and I was in it nearly all day except when Í took it off to have a shower."

White wasn't allowed to drive for the two months he wore the brace and had to rely on teammate and housemate Michael Jamison to chauffeur him and cook dinner.

The most worrying aspect for White was knowing that he was coming out of contract but Malthouse quickly told him that he would be offered a new contract for 2014.

"When you've just come out of a 12 month contract you think you might be in a bit of trouble here," he said.

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Warner set for Barmy reception

Barmy Army Trumpeter Billy Cooper picked up a new instrument on Thursday. Source: News Limited

THE Barmy Army takes its role as England's 13th man very seriously - as David Warner is about to find out.

The Army, who yesterday added a match against an Indigenous XI in Alice Springs to their chant-writing duties, has promised a renewed attack on the Aussie opener during the second Test in Adelaide next week.

Trumpeter and spokesman Billy Cooper, who brought the house down when he managed to get a few notes out of a didgeridoo he was presented, said Warner's inflammatory words during the Gabba Test had sent the Army's writers into overdrive.

"I probably shouldn't tell you too much, but David Warner is probably our No.1 target (in Adelaide). Obviously in the (northern) summer, we've been giving him all that stuff about picking on poor Joe Root," Cooper said as he broke into the theme from "Rocky" on his trusty trumpet.

"We'll be giving him some more of that … but we're going to be coming up with stuff while we're here in Alice Springs.

"Warner has upset a few of the team (and) we wouldn't be doing our job properly, as the Barmy Army, if we didn't give him a bit of stick."

Cooper smiled when asked if his vocal travelling partners were in any position to be giving grief for some pointed chatter.

"I would never be in a position to criticise someone for sledging because essentially our role, if we can get on top of some of the Australian players and put them off a bit, then we can help our team in that way.

"But I thought it was a bit much Michael Clarke picking on Jimmy Anderson. He's our No.11 batsman.

"He's only going to be score five runs against you anyway. It seemed a bit much when you're about to win.

"But it makes for an interesting series."

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