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Australia’s lowest Test match innings total at home since 1984 began with combative opener David Warner fishing for a loose outside-off delivery that he would nick through to the keeper.
South Africa rolled the hosts for 85 as Australia also recorded the lowest innings total at Bellerive in Test history.
Warner’s rash first innings dismissal came after he was run out by a miraculous Temba Bavuma in Perth last week while attempting a daring single.
It would be very easy to cast an eye over the two cavalier dismissals and heap blame on the Queenslander amid what’s come as a disastrous start to the summer for the baggy green.
Criticism of Warner’s shot has received just as much intensity as the wild attempt of cover drive, with Ricky Ponting and Chris Rogers both expressing disappointment in the opener.
Given the green Bellerive deck, overcast skies, wayward delivery and the fact a solitary over hadn’t been bowled in the match, Warner indeed flirted with danger in taking a slash at the wide Vernon Philander delivery.
Wind back the clock to the 2012-13 home summer, however, and you will see a pivotal moment in Warner’s rise.
In what was the last time South Africa toured Australia for a Test series, he produced a trademark Warner innings, pounding the Proteas in Adelaide on his way to 119 runs from just 112 balls. A colossal 88 of those runs came from boundaries and he finished with a strike rate of 106.25.
After almost 12 months of underperformance, one of the world’s most devastating opening batsmen had rediscovered his element.
At the Gabba the Test prior, he tentatively felt for a well-pitched Dale Steyn delivery and fell in the slips for four runs from 15 balls.
This came after recording an uncharacteristic strike rate of just 54.11 in the previous three-Test series against the West Indies in April.
Warner’s renewed approach in Adelaide, which saw him produce his first Test century in his last nine visits to the crease, set the precedent for his future at the top of Australia’s order.
Ever since, he has compiled a Test record possessing the hallmarks of a player likely to retire as an Australian cricketing great. With an average of 48.98 from 55 Tests, Warner is well on his way.
Positivity at the crease – aggression at his scintillating best – has given the opener method to his madness.
He sends loose balls to the fence and works tirelessly to nab one or two off the good balls.
This relentless desire to keep the runs ticking over at such a healthy rate places mountainous pressure on bowlers, creates nightmares for the captain in setting his field and gives himself the confidence that has fed his near-5000 Test runs.
An additional advantage of Warner’s electric approach to batting is that it can put Australia in a commanding position very early in the match.
He has on a litany of occasions been the architect of a 400-plus innings total, and because of the lightning rate at which he churns out his runs leaves the Australian bowlers with ample time to take the required 20 wickets to win the match.
At the WACA just last week, he struck 97 runs from just 100 balls before the first fall of wicket fell at 158. Unfortunately for the hosts, losing ten wickets for just 86 runs made waste of his superb knock.
Of course with batsmen like Warner, we are not always going to see a pretty dismissal. Due to the way he plays the game, chasing a wide delivery like he did yesterday is always going to look ugly.
However, just as was the case with Virender Sehwag, Matthew Hayden and Kevin Pietersen, the good simply has to be taken with the bad.
On any other day, Warner probably would have hammered that Philander delivery through cover for four to put the South African bowling attack on notice. In such a case everyone would be singing his praises.
The focus of yesterday’s historic batting capitulation should not be Warner’s desperate slash.
Instead, the criticism should be fired at anyone, other than Steve Smith, in Australia’s top seven, as opposed to arguably the best opening batsman in the world. Very minimal movement of the front foot brought a lot of the Australian batsmen undone.
To return to the stats, with Warner we are looking at a batsman with the third-highest Test strike rate in history out of players with an average of 45-plus. His strike rate of 77.74 is only eclipsed by Sehwag’s (82.23) and Gilchrist’s (81.95).
Send it to the fence, Warner.
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