Thanks, Shane Warne for being the gross uncle at the party.

Warnie, Warnie, Warnie… next time #askhimmore

Yesterday Australia won the Cricket World Cup.

And we beat New Zealand, which adds to the joy of it all.

It’s a cause for celebration. We’re happy. The players are happy. It’s good to be a winner.

Enter Shane Warne.

Now, there’s no doubt that Warnie is the spin bowler of our generation. He was an excellent player. He basically won Australia the World Cup back in 1999.

Flash forward 16 years and Warnie is now a commentator on Channel 9. Yesterday he wandered onto the pitch to interview the players after the match. And it was awkward.

First he asked wicket keeper, Brad Haddin, “are you feeling thirsty?” (He was.)

Then Warnie moved on to Captain-in-Waiting, Steven Smith. “Are you going to have a bit of a drink tonight too, Smithy? Are you going to get thirsty as well? The boys are thirsty they seem.”

Steven Smith played it off, and spoke about the quality of the opposition and the magnitude of the win, etc etc.

But Warnie was undeterred.

He wandered up to Shane Watson and Josh Hazlewood: “So what’s the plan — besides lots of drink and that? How long is that going to last. Just one night, two nights? We saw (coach) Darren Lehmann say it might last a week. Do you reckon it will go a bit longer than that?”

Yeah. So Warne wants to know whether everyone is going to have a drink. Great work. Good TV. Insightful stuff.

But the truth is that this isn’t about being a do-gooder. It’s not about being anti-alcohol. It’s about respecting the players. It’s about respecting the game and it’s about taking responsibility for the drinking culture that causes injury, death and disability every weekend across the country.

And it’s also about not being a dickhead.

And that’s something all Australians can get behind.