Our main job is to get Australia out, not to rile them up: Anderson

Wily paceman James Anderson says England have no intention of provoking a sledging war with Australian firebrand David Warner in Saturday’s high-profile World Cup opener. Anderson, who has a reputation of getting under the skin of Australian players, played a straight bat to questions over whether or not he would be targeting Warner during the tournament opener at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. [caption id=“attachment_2097047” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File picture of James Anderson (L). Getty[/caption] Warner is skating on thin ice with his disciplinary transgressions this season with the International Cricket Council (ICC) warning of a crackdown on aggressive sledging during the World Cup. Anderson said there were no England plans to trigger more disciplinary problems for the explosive Warner. “Having played against him (Warner) in the past, I don’t think he needs too much encouragement,” Anderson told reporters on Friday. “We’re going out there to concentrate on what we do, we’re going to try to be aggressive with the ball up front all the way through the innings and try and take wickets. “Our main job is to get them out, not to rile them up, so we’ll be concentrating on that.” Anderson has a history of disciplinary trouble and last year was cleared of a serious misconduct charge following an incident with India’s Ravindra Jadeja in the Trent Bridge pavilion, thus avoiding a possible four-game ban. Australia Test captain Michael Clarke lost 20 percent of his match fee after tensions became heated with Anderson during he first Ashes Test at the Gabba in 2013. The ICC slapped Clarke with a Level 1 code of conduct charge after he was overheard on stump microphones telling Anderson to “Get ready for a broken fucking arm” when the England number 11 was batting. Warner was twice fined by the ICC for verbal clashes with India during the recent Test and one-day series and in an incident which created headlines he punched England batsman Joe Root in a nightclub before the 2013 Ashes series in England. Anderson said there were no signs that Saturday’s World Cup opener would be spiced with over-the-top banter. “We’ve played three games already against them in the last few weeks in the tri series and that was played in a great spirit,” Anderson said. “Both teams were very competitive, but played in the right manner and I presume it will continue like that tomorrow.” AFP