Hi vilas, I take your point about not using the maltese cross in case of confirmation bias, and have modified my own method to now look at the SD FIRST and announce the control movement that I see - in accordance with Airbus SOPs - but then I check that the maltese cross agrees in the correct sense. This is a gross error check, in case the Captain does not pick up a wrong call or selection because they are distracted by taxying events.
Interestingly, when the F/O does their 'silent control check', no verbal or visual check is made by the Captain of that process, which is interesting, especially if the take-off is performed by the F/O. How does the Captain know and cross check that the F/Os controls are wired correctly?