David Warner may have just one innings left to save his Ashes spot after his extraordinary form slump continued last night on day one of the fourth Ashes Test in Manchester.
Warner looks lost. Stuart Broad has taken up residence in his muddled mind. Quite remarkably, the veteran English quick has dismissed Warner five times from seven innings this series as the Australian has cobbled together just 79 runs at 11.
Among that paltry haul are six single-figure scores. Even Warner’s one score of note – 61 in the first innings at Leeds – came after his outside edge was beaten close to a dozen times early in his innings as Broad and Jofra Archer toyed with him.
What appears to be the core of his problem is not an issue that is easily addressed. In England there is perhaps no more important skill for a top order batsman than knowing the precise location of their off stump.
That has been underlined by the sensational performance of rookie Marnus Labuschagne, whose stand out attribute has been his ability to leave so many deliveries.
No batsman in this series has shouldered arms to a greater percentage of deliveries than Labuschagne, who has left more than 30 per cent of the balls he’s faced.
England have found it very difficult to get him to spar at deliveries outside off stump, something the likes of Warner, Usman Khawaja, Matthew Wade and Tim Paine have done again and again.
Not surprisingly, each of those four players have had poor series with the bat.
David Warner (Photo by Ryan Pierse – CA/Cricket Australia/Getty Images)
Labuschagne, meanwhile, has frustrated England. Unable to just stack the slips cordon and wait for him to nick off like the rest, England have been forced to attack his strength.
The Queenslander is very effective off his pads but England last night targeted his stumps in an effort to get him playing at more deliveries.
Labuschagne duly picked off a number of these deliveries, clipping them through the leg side for runs with ease as he played another valuable knock.
Contrast that with Warner. Never before in his long and brilliant Test career has he looked so rudderless at the crease.
The around the wicket line adopted by England’s right arm quicks has left him completely confused by which deliveries to play and which to ignore.
Sometimes, like last night, he’s ended up doing a fatal mixture of both. The first ball he faced, from Broad coming around the wicket, Warner left a ball that angled in and was not far from clipping his off stump – too close for comfort.
The next delivery was well wide of off stump, exactly the kind of delivery Warner can comfortably ignore. Instead he half committed to playing it, half committed to leaving it and fully committed to giving ‘keeper Jonny Bairstow a catch.
He was out in almost identical fashion in the first Test as Broad again had him unsure whether to play or leave. Broad is coaxing Warner into playing at deliveries that he need not because of the way he’s also threatened his inside edge across the series.
He has had Warner both bowled and LBW with deliveries that continued on with the angle into the left hander.
Warner now clearly has no idea how to line up Broad. In the process he has lost his biggest weapon – his natural aggression. Warner’s success as a Test batsman has been the way he’s often flipped the script in the opening hour of an innings.
Can Davey claw back some respectability – and some form? (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
In these first dozen or so overs with the new ball the bowlers normally dominate, with the batsmen reduced to trying to get through that period and prosper later.
Warner had a unique ability to very quickly turn the pressure around on to the opening bowlers by lacing boundaries from the first over. Not once in seven innings in this series has he even looked like trying to get after the English quicks early in his innings.
Warner has lost his confidence, he’s lost his flair, he’s lost his off stump and he’s possibly just one more failure from losing his Ashes spot.
Kersi Meher-Homji
Guest
Please be kind to David Warner. Scoring ducks happens to the best. Readers would like to know that Australia’s batting great Mark Waugh had registered four ducks in a row against Sri Lanka in 1992; 0 and 0 at Colombo and 0 and 0 at Moratuwa. Four ducks in a row was the sixth instance in Test history and the first by a specialist batsman. Because of this double pair (0000) Mark Waugh was nicknamed "Aldi". But wait. In his next two Tests, against West Indies, he scored 39 and 60 in Brisbane and 112 and 16 in Melbourne three months later. Australian selectors, please note. Kersi Meher-Homji, author of the book "Out For A Duck".
Cigar Field Sobers
Roar Rookie
Rob Quiney pretty much effectively destroyed that yardstick as a requisite for test selection.
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
Give it a rest will you please? Doesn’t matter who you play for if you score no runs
Jeff
Roar Rookie
V True. Bradman was able to lift his vs a 5 Test series against an India side finding it's feet in 46/47 @ 170ish, BUT Bradman had also just missed EIGHT years of cricket due to the war. Outstanding. And he went on with it for two more Ashes series. I think Smith has a LOT of upside trajectory left re his average. I can seriously see him finishing up at around 70.
Rohan
Roar Rookie
Its interesting to note that some great batters’ averages have gone up towards the end of their careers. e.g av. in the final 2 yrs of their careers Bradman- 98 to 105.7 Chapple G – 53 to 59 Lloyd – 43 to 60 SPeeD will be one I reckon
Jules
Roar Rookie
Good article, Ronan. I know you've been a big fan of Warner's for a long time, so I was hanging out for your analysis of why his batting has been so bad this series -- and a credit to you for writing it. He may not even get a second innings now, so that might be curtains for his test career in England.
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
Harris probably should have been in the side from the start of the series, I agree. Having said that, if that had been the case, there is equally as much chance that he would have failed for the seven consecutive innings as there is chance of the half century you speak of. Perhaps, his non-selection at the start of the Ashes is the very thing keeping his test position prospects alive for the next test?
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
The shield once was that place and should still be if Cricket Australia's scheduling weren't all about the BBL dollars. Hopefully, this Ashes series highlights how little recent white ball runs matter when selection for red ball cricket is taking place. More red ball cricket in lead up to important series is the only real answer, I think. Selections then can be made based on recent form. Warner's only recent form prior to these Ashes was the World Cup where he went well and Smith was less than impressive.
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
It seems all those county runs didn't transfer to test success for Hayden on English soil. His 138 was a struggle and anything but flowing. It did however, keep our hopes of squaring the series alive. Losing 6/44 after Hayden was out nearly ended our chances. A dropped chance offered by KP early in his 158 in the 2nd innings was the final nail in our coffin. On the flip side, it seems silly to critique an opening batsmen for scoring an ugly hundred in bowler friendly English conditions when the English bowlers had the ball reversing as early as the 25th over... Doesn't it?
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
At least Warne did until he spilled the chance offered by KP when he was 8 in the 2nd innings of the 5th test. England should have been 4/82 and who knows how many we would have been chasing in our 4th innings. No more than 170 I expect and a good chance of chasing them down and drawing the series 2 all. Sounds harsh to dump all the blame on Warne though. Hayden wasn't the only disappointment that series as the Dukes balls hooped around (aided a little we now know) How many runs did Martyn or Gilchrist make that series? Katich make a bundle of runs? Warne and McGrath with the ball, while Langer and to lesser extents Ponting and Clarke with the bat, kept us in the contest.
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
I can agree with with you about the Australian selectors holding on to players too long when they are short on form. Its true that the players you mention had periods of ordinary form during their careers. It does seem a tad harsh to imply that Matt Hayden's form was responsible for the 2005 Ashes series loss. Hayden did have a poor series, until his 138 in the 5th test when a win would have drawn the series. Simon Katich also had a poor series, averaging only 27, Adam Gilchrist was to Flintoff what Warner currently is to Broad, averaging 22.6 and Damien Martyn an even worse series, averaging only 19. None of the Aussie top seven had great series in 2005 with Langer topping our averages at 43. Just a little context, perhaps.
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
Yep. Good comment.
qwetzen
Roar Rookie
"... the one decent opening batsman we’ve had has looked all at sea since his return." I'm surprised that no-one on 'The Back Page' has dredged up Robert Craddock's judgment that Warner would be fine after serving his ban but that Smith might struggle.
Akitas
Roar Rookie
The way Wade went out, his test career should now be over.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
Yeah/no...it was a response to Munro Mike.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Was that to me Don? If so, agreed. I'm just saying it's hard to know what Warner's true FC form is, so we don't know if he will be able to pick up from where he left off in Australia. That's why I'd like to see him play Shield, not T20s, in the lead up to this summer's Tests.
Harvey Wilson
Roar Rookie
...and make following cricket unbearable again....
Harvey Wilson
Roar Rookie
The think is though, if he does go slogging and gets out cheaply people will call him an idiot.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
If you read the comments around his test record, it's clear we all (with some exceptions) know the exact opposite.
DingoGray
Roar Guru
This version of Warner is absolutely utterly useless to us. BRING BACK the snarling, junk yard dog, Joe Root punching, absolute Bully Davey back. This new 'reverend' / changed Warner is quite vanilla and just plain no good to us. Get back to the aggression / arrogance that has set him apart.