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Why can't David Warner conquer ODI cricket?

19th March, 2015
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David Warner is in punishing form with the bat. (AAP Image/Mark Dadswell)
Expert
19th March, 2015
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David Warner has been playing one day internationals for almost twice the span of his Test career.

Yet, despite ODIs seemingly being tailor made for him, he has not been able to adapt to the format like he has Tests.

It was limited-overs cricket which vaulted the bombastic batsman onto the international scene six years ago. Famously, Warner had not even played first-class cricket when he made his T20 and ODI debuts for Australia in the space of a week in January of 2009.

It was almost three years before he managed to earn a baggy green cap. Within another three years he had become one of the most valuable Test batsmen on the planet, in rarefied air alongside AB de Villiers, Kumar Sangakkara and Hashim Amla.

After a period of lows on and off the field, in the summer of 2013-14 his Test game suddenly clicked. Soon he was vaporising the much-vaunted Test attack of the world’s number one team, South Africa, in their home conditions.

Now he owns a phenomenal 12 centuries from just 36 matches and appears destined to finish his career as a legend of Australian Test cricket.

Meanwhile, he just can’t make the same giant stride forward in ODIs, a format it seemed obvious he would flourish in before Tests.

We’ve seen this before. Two of Warner’s heroes, Michael Slater and Virender Sehwag, endured a similar struggle. Slater never survived it, with his ODI career perishing after just 42 matches with a meagre average of 24.

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Like Warner, Slater was a prolific Test batsman who took on the new ball, batting with a rare freedom and belligerence. He could strike the ball to any part of the ground with startling power. In an era when Australia’s ODI and Test teams were almost identical, and old-school players like Mark Taylor were plodding along at a strike rate of 59, Slater appeared to be the prototype of the next-generation limited-overs batsman.

But, unable to find the right balance between circumspection and excessive aggression, he floundered. Slater was offered sustained opportunities in ODIs, more so than other players may have been afforded, because of his obvious potential and his feats in Test cricket.

Just after Slater’s brief ODI career came to an end we saw the emergence of a batsman who revolutionised the role of openers in Test cricket. Opposed even to legendary Test bowlers like Glenn McGrath or Shaun Pollock, Sehwag displayed not a skerrick of caution. He chanced his hand continually while doling out some fearful poundings to opposition attacks.

Many of us thought Sehwag, who averages more than 50 in Test matches at a strike rate in the 80s, should be unstoppable in ODIs.

He did have a fruitful ODI career and set several records along the way. But he never quite harnessed his gifts in ODIs the way it seemed he could have.

A career average of 35 did not befit the extraordinary talent he possessed. Sehwag could have stood alongside Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis as one the truly elite ODI batsmen of his era. Instead, he was merely a very good player, rather than a champion.

Which path will Warner’s ODI career take? He has already bypassed the crash-and-burn outcome that Slater endured. But can he do what Sehwag never could and elevate himself to the level of an ODI great?

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Sehwag and Warner have played plenty of cricket together with the Delhi Daredevils in the IPL. When the Indian maestro first caught sight of his Australian teammate in 2009 he told Warner he would be better at Test than T20 cricket. Like Sehwag himself, Warner would benefit from the attacking fields set in Tests which opened up many scoring opportunities.

Sehwag was prophetic. Warner has relished the chance to carve boundaries early in Test innings when the opposition often only has one man out. Why can’t Warner similarly exploit the first 15 overs of ODI matches, when only two fielders can be outside the circle and often they are at fine leg and third man? He scores at a strike rate of 75 in Tests. He need only score at a slighter higher clip in the first 15 overs of an ODI.

Where previously batting teams tried to sprint through that opening period of an ODI innings, taking full advantage of the fielding restrictions, the common approach now is more conservative. The advent of two new balls, combined with the ability of teams to score massively in the final 20 overs, means sides now prefer to cruise for the first 30 overs, keeping as many wickets in hand as possible.

Warner is yet to master this more responsible task given to opening batsmen, the same way he never conquered the role of dasher in the previous era of ODI strategies. Coming off an astounding 18 months of Test cricket, this World Cup shaped as Warner’s gateway to greatness.

So far his efforts have been underwhelming.

Putting aside his swashbuckling 178 against minnow nation Afghanistan, Warner has made just 86 runs from his other four innings. Meanwhile, his career average is identical to Sehwag’s at 35.

Surely, with all his talent and dedication, Warner’s career mark won’t stay at such a mediocre level. Surely he will learn how to transfer his immense gifts to the 50-over format.

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Surely he will start this transformation by dismantling Pakistan’s attack today and then piling up runs in the semi final and decider to lead Australia to World Cup glory.

Hang on, that’s the fan in me speaking.

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