Why I was wrong about David Warner

One of the hardest things any sports writer, or anybody in general, can do is admit that they are wrong. Today I am going to do exactly that.

I was wrong about David Warner. As recently as this time last year I was still unconvinced that he was not a Test opener.

And this isn’t before the first Ashes Test at the Gabba, this is after he hit an outstanding century in the second innings of Australia’s dominant victory, scoring 124 runs off 154 balls in a very composed innings.

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I knew that Warner was an outstanding talent, I just thought he was better suited to Twenty20 and One Day cricket, where he has the freedom to just bash the ball around and score as many runs in as short a time as possible.

Warner finally confirmed to me on Monday that he has the ability to change gears and pick and choose his shots. After he started the innings on fire, hitting 35 runs off 17 deliveries, Michael Hussey asked the question that everybody had been thinking. Where to now?

If India starts bowling better does he keep swinging the bat or does he tone it down and respect each delivery? I had my fears that he would keep swinging, but he did the opposite, he toned it down and picked his shots more carefully.

Warner’s transformation from fresh faced Twenty20 master blaster to composed Test opener is nothing short of remarkable, never seen before and extremely unexpected. To make it even more surprising, he was only picked in the team after Shane Watson got injured, for only the 1000th time in his career.

The doubters, including myself, thought Warner would be a flash in the pan in Test cricket, as soon as Watson recovered from injury he would be straight back out.

My worst fears about David Warner were confirmed just six weeks after his debut when he teed off against India. He scored a century off 69 deliveries, the fastest hundred by an opener in Test cricket history.

Admittedly, the Indians were delivering plenty of rubbish, which deserved to be sent flying back towards the boundary. However, it was also a sign of Warner’s inability to play a composed Test innings.

After a lean series in the Caribbean Warner returned home the following summer to face South Africa in a clash for the Test cricket world number one ranking. He failed in Brisbane and then, to my eye at least, switched back into Twenty20 mode in the second Test in Adelaide, scoring 119 off 112 balls, taking advantage of some pies served up by Imran Tahir and an extremely short boundary on one side of the field.

It was absolutely fantastic to watch, the first day of that Test was outstanding, Australia was 5/482 at stumps, Warner had hit a rapid fire hundred, Mike Hussey had scored yet another century and Michael Clarke was 224 not out. However, in the back of my mind was the fear that when Warner faced some good bowling, he wouldn’t be able to resist swinging the bat at anything and everything.

A pair of rapid fire half centuries later in the summer against Sri Lanka seemed to confirm my suspicions, Sri Lanka’s bowlers were disappointing during that series as well and Warner was able to take advantage of the poor bowling. But still nagging at me was the fear of good bowling.

Sandwiched in between the Adelaide Test and the Sri Lanka series was the Third Test against South Africa. This was a huge comedown Test for Australia. After the disappointment of Adelaide, a match they should have won, Australia was always going to struggle coming off a short rest.

Warner, however, had no excuse for the shot he played in the first innings. Facing Dale Steyn, perhaps the best fast bowler in the world, he played a loose shot. He just couldn’t resist, he saw a ball outside off stump and just had to play at it. He was 13 off 35 and had no reason to play the shot, other than impatience.

This was exactly my fear when Warner was initially selected to play Test cricket for Australia. It’s all well and good dispatching the bad delivery, but you have to pick your balls, the good deliveries have to be respected in Test cricket.

If I’m going to be perfectly honest, I thought it was a blessing in disguise when Warner got suspended following his late night run in with Joe Root at the Walkabout Hotel (insert joke about Warner going walkabout here).

I thought it was best for Australia to have two patient and highly experienced batsmen opening the batting, in the form of Chris Rogers and Ed Cowan. Even after he scored a double century against a Zimbabwe XI I was not convinced that he should be reinserted into the Test team for the exact reasons I had stated above, he was not facing quality bowling during that double century.

My fears were confirmed when the English baited him into playing a pull shot straight to, you guessed it, Joe Root at deep square leg in the second innings of Warner’s return Test. The English bowled short balls to Warner all innings, knowing that he couldn’t resist himself and that eventually he would play a loose shot. They were right, 57 balls into his innings he went for the big one and picked out the fielder.

A further fear I held about Warner was that he would place too much pressure on himself when he found the run rate drying up. There are examples littered throughout his Test career of a loose shot coming after a slow start to his innings or after a few lean overs – the fifth Test at The Oval last year, Perth in 2012 and even against England in the first innings in both Brisbane and Adelaide last year.

I guess my expectations of Warner were too high, I expected him to completely eradicate this from his game. I have come to learn that he will never completely eradicate the odd loose shot but he has come a long way in limiting their frequency.

This brings us to today. He has now hit five centuries this year including two in the one Test against South Africa, the best pace attack in the world, in February. On top of this, he has passed 50 a further three times and is averaging 73.8.

All five of his centuries have been similar innings to his most recent hundred, fast and free flowing at times but patient and composed when he needed to be. Yes, there was still the odd loose shot or swing at a ball that should not have been swung at but overall he has learned to respect the good delivery.

David Warner is an outstanding cricket player, very few people had any doubts about this prior to Test debut in 2011 and even fewer people doubt this now. But he has always been a controversial and intriguing character based on his style of play.

To make things even more confusing, he had the media hailing him a hero and a legend after a rapid century but irresponsible and not a Test player when he got out playing a loose shot attempting to hit a boundary off every delivery.

I have absolutely zero doubts that if he got out on 35 on Monday that he would have been criticised for playing irresponsibly. In reality, Warner needs to find himself somewhere in the middle, an ability to dispatch the loose ball and reel things in when needs be, a middle ground it appears he has found.

What do you think? Are you convinced that Warner is a genuine Test opener or an irresponsible batsman who can only score against poor bowling? Have your say below.

Twitter: @fromthesheds