Warner wins over critics
Opener among greats
SOMETHING unusual happened to David Warner in the build up to the Boxing Day Test.
He felt an often hostile world put its arm around him.
Warner is used to copping it from all and sundry on social media but received a lot of messages of support from the public for his 100th Test and even a homeless man wished him the best as he was walking through the streets of Melbourne.
It was so hot in Melbourne on day two of the Test that police were offering assistance to homeless people to find shade and indoor refuge.
But Warner was so keyed up and determined it was as if the temperature never mattered for the first half of his innings before a grand piano dropped from the heavens and fatigue and cramp set in.
He went from looking as fresh as a just unwrapped Christmas present to resembling Dean Jones at the back end of his Madras double century which was also played in steambath conditions.
It was his first century for three years and the best he has batted in that time.
His footwork and stroke play recaptured their edge at the end of a year in which he has averaged just 20 and there were times when needed every bit of his experience to whether the pinpoint 155kph thunderbolts of Anrich Nortje.
Deep into the trenches he went, scrapping and clawing his way through, squeezing every bit of electricity from his 36 year old reflexes and he required treatment and pain killing tablets after being smashed on the left hand after being belted in the helmet on 47.
This innings, fitting shared with Steve Smith who has been the man close by at so many of his career’s extreme highs and bitter lows such as Sandpapergate, is the highpoint of Warner’s turbulent career.
Warner’s journey has been a twisting, twirling roller coaster but the bottom line is he has been the most under-rated big name player in Australian cricket history.
When Australia chose its team of the century in the year 2000 Arthur Morris and Bill Ponsford were chosen as the openers but Warner and Matthew Hayden have gone past both of them.
Great as he was, Ponsford only played in eight Test series and averaged less than 24 in four of them. Warner’s record is above that.
There are a lot of notable features about Warner’s record but his blistering strike rate is his gold stud. For an opening batsmen to have a strike rate of 71 and an average floating around 47 is to have a man who had his cake and ate it. He could put his foot to the floor without running off the road.
Significantly, his strike rate is almost identical no matter whether his team wins, loses or draws so in victory or defeat he has been same ball at a gate. Those figures alone put him in the best of the best.
It’s often said you compare modest players by comparing their strengths and great players by comparing their short suits … what didn’t they do. No-one does it all.
It’s true Warner was a more dynamic force at home where he averages around 58 to offshore where he has averaged 34. He struggled in England (average 26), India (24) and Sri Lanka (25) but was a powerhouse in South Africa where he scored three Test centuries.
Only six specialist opening batsmen in the game have scored more runs than he has and they are all the bluest of blue bloods – Alastair Cook, Graeme Smith, Graham Gooch, Matt Hayden, Virender Sehwag and Geoff Boycott.
Warner is different to all of them. He says there will never be another player like him and he is probably right.
To appreciate the skill he displayed in being a crack three format is to understand that the same deliveries he often needs to let go in Test cricket he absolutely has to play at in white ball cricket.
Somehow he has managed to tweak his radar when it matters.