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Does the 'Sehwag measure' fit David Warner?

Roar Guru
20th December, 2015
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David Warner is one of the most powerful athletes in world cricket. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
Roar Guru
20th December, 2015
23

David Warner polarises opinion. His fear factor is redoubtable, but is he a player of top-shelf calibre or dependent on favourable conditions to devastate?

Virender Sehwag attracted similar conjecture over his standing in the game.

A doppelganger of Warner in style, the recently retired Indian opener also had remarkably similar career figures:

Virender Sehwag: 104 Tests, 8586 runs, average 49.34, strike rate 82.23, 23 centuries, 32 fifties.

Home average: 54.13.
Away average: 44.65.

David Warner: 46 Tests, 4241 runs, average 50.48, strike rate 75.75, 15 centuries and 19 fifties.

Home average: 59.48.
Away average: 40.07.

The standout is the home-and-away splits, particularly as you dig deeper into them.

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The ‘flat-track bully’ moniker attached to Sehwag is justified, with 18 of his 23 centuries coming on Asian decks.

The same asterisk often preceedes Warner’s name because of his near 20-run average differential at home as opposed to away.

The context in the comparison is Warner having much of his career still to play. Can he achieve the completeness the great Indian somewhat lacked?

Warner is still very much a work in progress. The key part of this is the churlish nature of the early parts of his career, replaced by his new maturity. We saw this in spades in his unbeaten 123 on a bowling-favourable Hobart pitch against a high-class New Zealand attack in 2011.

That innings showed what he is capable of when his temperament is right.

Keep in mind Warner’s century strike rate of one every 5.83 innings sits him among the immortals of the game.

Compare these numbers:

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Sir Donald Bradman, one century every 2.75 innings.
Herbert Sutcliffe, one century every 5.25 innings.
Sunil Gavaskar, one century every 6.14 innings.
Sir Garfield Sobers, one century every 6.15 innings.
Jacques Kallis, one century every 6.22 innings.
Sachin Tendulkar, one century every 6.45 innings.
Brian Lara, one century every 6.82 innings.

It makes you wonder, with Warner reaching the peak of his career in a refined mindset, what he might have in store for us.

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