Australia postpone Afghanistan series again due to 'conditions for women and girls getting worse'
Cricket Australia has called off a series against Afghanistan for the second time in as many years due to "government advice". Australia's men were…
Before November 6, 2011, like every expert, guru, rookie and man on the street I thought that the left-handed opening batsman David Warner was a man cut out for Twenty20 cricket.
ODIs? Maybe. Test cricket? You must be joking! He can’t keep the ball on the ground for three consecutive deliveries.
Then on November 6 that year, I went to the Bankstown Oval to watch a Sheffield Shield match between NSW and South Australia. By lunch on the second day I had completely changed my opinion.
Warner scored 148 runs off 185 balls hitting 22 fours and two sixes while adding 233 runs for the first wicket with Nic Maddinson.
What impressed me was not the runs he made, but how he started his innings. He defended and attacked but gave lie to the theory that he can’t defend to save his life. Most of his boundaries were hit along the ground, Colin Cowdrey-like cover drives dominating his innings.
And I told my cricket-loving friends the next day that Warner should be selected in the first Test against New Zealand in Brisbane starting in three weeks’ time. There were guffaws galore around the table with comments that it was a few glasses of beer and not the usually sensible Kersi talking.
The selectors seemed to agree with me and Warner was picked in the Brisbane Test starting on December 1.
Knowledgeable Roarers, have you noticed a quirky coincidence about Warner’s Test debut? The Twenty20 specialist Warner made his first appearance in Test match number 2020.
His fellow-debutants were fast bowlers Mitchell Starc and James Pattinson.
Australia won that Test by nine wickets, debutant Pattinson (5-27 in the second innings) was named man of the match. Warner did not set the cricket world on fire, scoring three and 12 not out, although he did hit the winning runs with a four.
But in the second innings of the second and final Test in Hobart the following week, he cemented his place in the Test arena. He was adjudged man of the match after scoring 15 and a magnificent and unbeaten 123 although Australia lost this thriller to New Zealand by seven runs to draw the series one-all.
Set 241 runs to win in seven sessions, Australia scored 0-72 at stumps on day three (Warner 47, Phil Hughes 20).
On a seaming bouncy fourth day pitch, Australia frequently lost wickets. From a comfortable 2-159, they lost Ricky Ponting (16), Michael Clarke (0) and Mike Hussey (0) without adding a run and quickly it was 5-159 with the touring Kiwis on top, their quickie Doug Bracewell doing the damage.
Only Warner remained unbeaten as Australia collapsed to 9-199, still 42 runs needed for an unlikely victory when no. 11 batsman Nathan Lyon walked in.
Lyon was declared out twice by on-field umpires Nigel Llong and Asad Rauf but was saved by DRS on both occasions as Warner batted with increasing confidence at the other end.
Warner celebrated his first Test century off 145 balls with a leap and punch of the air which has now become his ‘signature tune’. He carried his bat for 123 in 317 minutes, adding 34 heroic runs with Lyon when the latter was clean bowled by Bracewell for nine. New Zealand won the cliffhanger by seven runs.
It was their first Test win over Australia since the March 1993 Wellington Test and their first win in Australia in 26 years.
If only Warner had farmed the strike as he was playing a sublime innings!
Warner was voted man of the match (after a vote by the public via text message) but many felt that Bracewell (3-20 and 6-40) deserved it more.
Warner has gone on to score 4506 runs at 50.06 in 51 Tests with 16 centuries (highest score 253) and 20 fifties. But I am sure he will consider his unbeaten 123 in the 2011 Hobart Test as one of his best.
I reckon he will be at his best in the tri-nation ODI series against the West Indies and South Africa in the Caribbean next month. He has hit 2537 runs at an average of 37.86 and a strike rate of 92.18 with five centuries (HS 178) and 14 fifties.
Thus, Dave Warner can no longer be termed a T20 specialist; Windies and South African bowlers beware.
I can visualise him leaping high and punching air after another ODI ton in the West Indies.