Thursday, Apr 18, 2024 | Last Update : 11:42 AM IST
Decoding the duo
The expert also analysed the body language and speech of David Warner in his press conference.
Warner has a highly volatile personality, says Australia’s leading body language and speech expert Michael Kelly. He watched both the recent press conferences addressed by Steven Smith and David Warner.
“Of the two, Smith understood the wider view of the situation,” said Kelly, speaking exclusively from Sydney on Saturday afternoon. “Smith, as compared to Warner, showed more concern about the impact of the tampering on the Australian people and the cricketing world, than the impact on his ability to play in South Africa and on his career,” he added.
Further, “Smith showed genuine remorse in the conference. He conveyed deep emotion and stress through needing to stop his speaking on several occasions, through his crying and his furrowed brow.”
The expert also analysed the body language and speech of David Warner in his press conference. “Warner entered the room with a stiff face and lips, and pained eyes.”
Warner’s normal facial expression is stiff in the cheeks, and in and around the lips. My understanding of this expression is that Warner has a highly volatile personality that he needed to keep himself under control, lest it bubbled out.
This volatility is expressed freely on the cricket pitch, and in altercations with other players who bait him. However, in other environments, for example press conferences, the stiff facial expression is needed to prevent the outburst of inappropriate emotions. Warner showed genuine remorse and deep emotion conveyed through his eyes and face, and through having to stop speaking to take a breath. This remorse and deep emotion was also conveyed through a break in the pitch of his voice. Through his words, Warner seemed more concerned with himself not being able to play in South Africa, and the impact of his career, than on the wider stain of his actions on Australia and angry fans.
At the end, the expert concluded, “There is a high probability of a rift between Warner and Smith”.
Interestingly, Kelly has also read U.S. President Donald Trump’s body language in the past.
