David Warner wants to end the year the way he started - with a Test ton

By David Lord / Expert

David Warner has had a spectacular ODI year, but by his lofty standards a pretty ordinary Test 12 months.

His 1388 ODI runs at 63.09 featured seven centuries. Only Sachin Tendulkar’s record was better in the history of ODI cricket, where 3811 ODIs have been played.

Best ODI calendar year records
Sachin Tendulkar (1988) scored 1894 runs at 65.31 with nine centuries, and seven half-centuries.
David Warner (2016) – 1388 – 63.09 – 7/4.
Sourav Ganguly (2000) – 1579 – 56.39 – 7/6.
Gary Kirsten (1996) – 1482 – 57.68 – 6/4.
Sachin Tendulkar (1996) – 1611 – 53.70 – 6/9.

Next best Australians
Ricky Ponting (2007) – 1424 – 79.11 – 5/8.
Matt Hayden (2007) – 1601 – 59.29 – 5/6.
Ricky Ponting (2003) – 1154 – 46.16 – 5/4.
Mark Waugh (2001) – 809 – 80.90 – 4/2.
And Aaron Finch (2014) – 790 – 43.88 – 4/3.

But Warner’s Test year has been far removed from his ODIs, yet he was selected in both the ICC Test and ODI Teams of the Year.

Go figure.

He started well with an unbeaten 122 against South Africa in the New Year Test at the SCG, but that’s been his only Test ton all year in 18 visits to the crease.

He was well on the way in successive digs against Sri Lanka with 68 in Colombo, and 97 against South Africa at the WACA, so the MCG would be the perfect venue to end the year the way he started.

So far he’s scored just 604 runs at 35.52 to be 21st on the list for runs in the calendar year.

It’s very un-Warner like.

MCG curator David Sandukski had a word of warning for Warner.

“He’ll have to fight hard if he bats on Boxing Day, the ball might do a bit.”

“The MCG is the sort of wicket where you can’t go blasting off from ball one.

“You have to take your time, and get used to the conditions,” he added.

It will be interesting to see if the Australian vice captain takes any notice of the well-meaning advice.

It’s hard to imaging David Warner holding back if the ball is in the slot. The odds are it will disappear through cover like a laser beam.

Hopefully on the way to three figures. In the meantime, a Merry Christmas to all Roarers.

The Crowd Says:

2016-12-24T21:46:35+00:00

Scuba

Guest


It's inconvenient to say that the unbeaten 122 was against the hapless Windies rather than a decent team. Burns' average for the calendar year is 29.6 vs Warner's 35.5.

2016-12-24T20:30:57+00:00

bill

Roar Rookie


Not sure we played Sth Africa in the New Years test. How does he compare to the team? Could burns have a better calendar year average?

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