MELBOURNE: Australia batsman George Bailey has hit back at reports he was to blame for the non-referral howler that saw David Warner’s wicket thrown away and hastened his team’s slide to a record 159-run defeat against New Zealand at Eden Park in Auckland.

Opening batsman Warner was dismissed lbw during Wednesday’s first One-day International and after a chat with non-striker Bailey, elected to walk rather than employ the Decision Review System (DRS).

The ball-tracking technology showed the delivery flying well clear of the stumps and Warner bashed his bat into his pad in annoyance as he trudged off the ground.

The wicket left Australia on 39-3 in pursuit of 308 for victory and was the catalyst for a batting collapse that saw another three wickets tumble for the addition of only two runs as the visitors were eventually dismissed for just 148.

Bailey did the rounds of Australian talk radio shows on Thursday and said Warner had actually ignored his advice.

“I said, ‘What did it feel like?’ And he said, ‘High’. So I said, ‘Go for it’. And he turned around and walked off,” Bailey told Melbourne radio station RSN. “So, I don’t really know what more he wants from my end.”

Bailey said Warner had also remonstrated with him later in the dressing room.

“He said, ‘I wasn’t that confident in what you said’. I said I’m not really sure what you’re after. I can’t be any more explicit than saying ‘go for it’,” he added.

Batsmen generally seek help with referrals for lbw decisions given the non-strikers have a better view of deliveries but Bailey said the onus should not be on the player at the other end.

“You know, I reckon, if you’re out or even if it’s close and it’s up to you to make that call,” he told Melbourne radio station SEN.

Meanwhile, Australia had injury added to insult after being thrashed in the opening one-day international with an injured James Faulkner returning home on Thursday.

He suffered a hamstring injury in Wednesday’s match and is to be replaced by Marcus Stoinis.

The left-arm quick, who was also the man-of-the-match when Australia beat New Zealand in the World Cup final last year, was one of the few Australians to distinguish himself when the two sides met in an ODI for the first time since on Wednesday.

Faulkner took two wickets and contributed the second highest score of 36 with the bat.

“Unfortunately, with the short turnaround between games we do not believe he will recover in time to take any further part in the series,” Australian team doctor Alex Kountouris said. “As a result, he will return to Melbourne to have scans and start rehabilitation. We are hopeful this is only a low-grade injury but will know more in the coming days.”

Faulkner’s departure adds to a growing list of injured in the Australian squad with Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Aaron Finch missing from the New Zealand series as well as coach Darren Lehmann.

Stoinis, who will join the Australian squad in time for the second ODI in Wellington on Saturday, is an all-rounder who has only played one ODI and one Twenty20 in the past year.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2016