I watched [Roger] Federer the other day and thought, 'What a true champion'. He's the sort of guy you want to watch because he plays the game well and he's humble about it. But you watch Australia and just their egos, you know what I mean? Sure, you're talented, you've got great players and you win most of the time, but as blokes they've got no time for you. So to take them on and stick it to them is my motivation. I personally think that they think they're bigger than the game. Baz [McCullum] does it well. We're not intimidated by them and that's the biggest thing. If you're intimidated by Australia, you're beaten. You've got to stand up to them. You might not be their friends, but at the end of the day I don't care if I'm not friends with those guys. They're the enemy.
Cricinfo and the Australian have already picked up on the comments and Cricket Australia has felt obliged to issue a nonchalant "we don't care" response. The coverage in the Australian is also interesting for another reason. In passing it notes Jacob Oram's century against Australia and adds "Strangely this wonderful innings was not enough to win Oram the man of the match award. Instead it went to Ricky Ponting...". It is strange indeed. Especially as those generous words appear in the same paper which only days earlier called Jacob Oram "a second rate Chris Cairns".
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