After Smith, Warner takes swipe at McCullum over 'immature' jibe

Backing his new skipper Steve Smith after being labelled 'immature' by Brendon McCullum, Australian explosive opener David Warner has said that the New Zealander's opinion was 'poor and immature', insisting that he has no right to comment upon the former's decision on Ben Stokes at the Lord's.

England all-rounder Stokes was controversially adjudged out for 'obstructing the field' after he struck his hand out at Mitchell Starc's throw aimed at the stumps during their second ODI against Australia in September.

McCullum had said in his column for a daily that Smith missed a great opportunity to strike a blow for the spirit of cricket, adding that the Australian showed his immaturity by not withdrawing his appeal.

"In my opinion it was something that was quite poor and immature on his behalf, to actually make the comment about Steve. For one, as an international cricketer I don't see the need or the right for a current cricket captain to write columns on another series. After I read the first one I didn't really pay attention to what he was saying," Warner was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

Warner also said that his side would fight hard to become number one in all formats of the game.

"At the end of the day you're not playing for the Spirit of Cricket Award are you, you're playing for a series and for us that's what our goal is, is to win the series.

Our goal is to be No.1 in all formats and we're always going to fight for that. At the end of the day we try not to cross that line. A couple of times we've head-butted it," the 29-year-old said.

Earlier, Smith had also responded to the McCullum's criticism, saying that he felt 'a little bit disappointed' over the jibe and stated that it was none of his business to make a comment on the incident.

Australia are all set to renew their trans-Tasman rivalry with New Zealand, with the first of the three-match Test series starting at the Gabba on Thursday.