David Warner has returned to the pavilion with a single-figure score against his name more often than not in 29 trips to the crease in a Test in England.
If that was a tailender, you’d be worried but the fact that he’s an opener with 15 matches in the UK under his belt, should be ringing deafening alarm bells in the ears of the Australian selectors.
But it’s not. And despite four modest scores to open his fourth and final foray into an English Test tour, he will open the batting alongside Usman Khawaja at Lord’s on Wednesday.
Warner scored nine and 36 to start the Ashes at Edgbaston last week after making 43 and one in the World Test Championship final against India at The Oval.
His record in England now stands at 740 runs from 29 innings at 25.51 with no tons in those 15 Tests over the course of a decade and just seven half-centuries.
And with 15 single-figure scores in that record, the odds are that Marnus Labuschagne will be facing the new ball a lot earlier than anyone would like apart from the English seamers.
His record is abysmal if you only factor in his efforts since the 2019 tour – he’s made it to 10 just four times in his most recent 14 knocks in England.
To put it in perspective, Mitchell Starc (six single-figure dismissals in 18 innings) has a statistically much better chance of making it into double figures than Warner in the UK while he’s only marginally better than Pat Cummins (eight of 13) and Nathan Lyon (11 of 20).
Usman Khawaja, who has had his struggles on previous trips to England, has only failed to reach 10 in five of his 16 innings while Travis Head (2 of 12) and Marnus Labuschagne (once in 11 innings after his golden duck at Edgbaston) pretty much always get going.
England’s nemesis, Steve Smith, has been out 10 times in single figures from 34 trips to the crease in the UK (which is still comparatively much less often than Warner) but averages 57.69 after peeling off seven tons and just as many half-centuries.
Warner effectively called the selectors’ bluff recently when he stated he wanted to play out the Ashes and retire after the three-Test home contest against Pakistan at his home ground, the SCG, in January, bypassing the following series against the West Indies.
David Warner is bowled by Stuart Broad. (Photo by David Davies/PA Images via Getty Images)
He’s entitled to have a goal and to put an end date on his career but after just 1003 runs at 28.65 with just one triple-figure score and only four half-centuries from 36 innings in the past three years, there should be more than enough evidence to suggest he’s not doing enough to hold his place in the side.
His footwork was all over the shop as he tried to flay a cover drive in the first innings before dragging the ball onto his stumps while he failed to convert his start in the second dig, nicking an Ollie Robinson delivery from the tried and true method of a right-arm seamer angling into Warner from around the wicket.
Reputation and performances are functions of the past, the present shows Warner is not the best option for a team looking to repel England to prove they are the undisputed champions of the Test cricket world.
While many former sportspeople are reluctant to be brutally honest when they enter the media, particularly when asked to comment on their old teammates, Ed Cowan is not afraid to call it as he sees it.
When asked about his former opening partner on the ABC Grandstand Cricket Podcast, he believes Warner is on his last chance at Lord’s with the Australians set to announce an updated touring party for the final three Tests.
“This is the quirk of sport, if they’d lost I think they would have dropped him,” Cowan said. “I think it’s bought him one more Test match and I think this is now, no hundred, no third Test, irrespective of the result. That’s how it feels.
“The dismissal in the first innings spoke to someone who was not quite sure what was going on. We hear ‘I’m hitting the ball well in the nets’ and we saw glimpses of it in the World Test Championship but ultimately, you’re determined by the runs you score.
“It was an important little 30 in the second innings but if we’re keeping people because they’re scoring 30 we’ve got big issues.”
Warner and the rest of the Australian batters are likely to face slightly tougher conditions at Lord’s than the featherbed that was rolled out at Edgbaston.
The pitch will get another mow before game day but it’s looking much more like a traditional English strip than the straw-coloured Birmingham blancmange.
Predicted cloudy weather is likely to bring swing into the equation more so this time around even if it still turns out to be a flat surface that suits England’s high-octane Bazball batting style.
Stuart Broad, who unsurprisingly dismissed Warner again in Edgbaston to make it 15 times at Test level in 27 matches, wrote in his weekend newspaper column that he was surprised by “the the total absence of reverse swing, despite the dryness of the pitch” while adding “just a hint of that would have been the thing to get us over the line and we were looking for it all the way”.
It’s unlikely any pitch for the rest of this series will be as batting-friendly as Edgbaston so Warner may have already missed his best chance to cash in with a big score to ensure he gets to sign off with an SCG farewell.
Gharner
Roar Rookie
Why are you picking out 29? Warner doesn't average that much, and was in single figures last time. Replacing him goes beyond just batting; his fielding has dropped away considerably. I've never known a first slip to jump away from the ball as often as he does. Two of the three frontrunners to replace him are now significantly better in that department.
Gharner
Roar Rookie
Harris is a poor fielder with no innings of substance recorded at Test level. Renshaw on the other hand is a terrific slip and has multiple noteworthy performances.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
See how he goes first in the Shield.
Nick
Roar Rookie
Much of this I disagree, and even in your last paragraph you don't even agree with yourself. I genuinely don’t trust any of those guys to average better than 29 at test level in England. How many of us actually would? That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t get the chance (and Bancroft in particular can feel a bit hard done by) , but it is almost certainly a major reason why Warner is still there. If that were true, then it speaks to a much wider and concerning conversation around both the quality of the shield and the development of the next generation(s) of talent. Immediate reviews would need to be in order if no one has confidence that there is someone who can do better than 29 if given an extended run. But they aren't are they? Why? Because the shield is strong and the player development is still world class. In saying that, the bar *should* be high to replace a test incumbent. If someone had been churning out big runs at the top of the order in the Shield for consecutive seasons then Warner wouldn’t have missed the plane to India. But they haven’t, so he didn’t. Nope. The standard you are expecting was not met by Warner when he was selected. Warner never had two good seasons in the shield. He was fast tracked off the back of a century and averaged in the 30's. You are one of the people who seem to think he was hitting 50+ year in year out. He wasn't. But now, you say that others must do what Warner never did? Why do you believe Warner can be exempted and picked on faith, but everyone else must meet your impossible standards? I think you need to explain that inconsistency, James.
JamesH
Roar Guru
I genuinely don’t trust any of those guys to average better than 29 at test level in England. How many of us actually would? That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t get the chance (and Bancroft in particular can feel a bit hard done by) , but it is almost certainly a major reason why Warner is still there. In saying that, the bar *should* be high to replace a test incumbent. If someone had been churning out big runs at the top of the order in the Shield for consecutive seasons then Warner wouldn’t have missed the plane to India. But they haven’t, so he didn’t. Other than Khawaja, Dan Hughes is the only top order bat in the Shield to average north of 40 in each of the last two Shield seasons, and he’s not even in the conversation. The guys we’re talking about have generally had one strong season and one modest one. Couple that with each of them having had multiple stints in the side already, I can understand the selectors’ hesitation. Now, if England do move away from flat decks in favour of more traditional seaming strips, I think the selectors will end up using Harris. Warner just won’t last in those conditions. As long as the pitches are reasonably batting-friendly, though, I suspect he’ll hold on.
Opeo
Roar Rookie
A couple of people said that they do not have faith in Warner’s potential replacements. I dislike this view but for various reasons a lot of people are more assured of Boland and Neser succeeding at test level than they are that Renshaw, Harris, or Bancroft will. Boland is basically already there. He had a poor one last week but he still has an average of 18.
Wikipetia
Roar Rookie
(and he could field. and bowl. and play pace and spin.)
Harvey Wilson
Roar Rookie
It happens all the time, law of averages says that eventually, given enough chances he will get a big score. Then he can go back to the rubbish again, as he has after the 200, which looks like it was definitely an outlier.
Steele
Roar Rookie
I mean, I wouldn’t fancy squaring up to any of our four quicks on a green top but yeah Neser would be handy.
Steele
Roar Rookie
Again I wouldn’t be shocked if Candy rubbed other people either!
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
And we have to string it together. I'd quite often refer to the 3 little pigs when training high schoolers in footy. Doing the hard stuff early always lays a good foundation.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I was thinking about that umpiring stuff. In cricket l get up in arms about it. But in football there are so many decisions made that it just fazes me.
Wikipetia
Roar Rookie
Can’t compare smith to Harris. Smith had made great rearguard runs in England and at Perth. And then in India. Always against brilliant attacks. Averages don’t always tell the story.
Nick
Roar Rookie
My original post was that I’m just not convinced we have a better option. But it's an opinion based on expecting others to meet irrationally high standards that no one has been asked to meet in the past. He averages 29 over the past three years. You have a dismal view of anyone else if you think that they couldn't EVER do better than that if given the same smorgasbord of chances Warner gets
Shire
Roar Rookie
That's what people have done. Everyone saying that they haven't is ignorant of Shield and county cricket.
Paul Suttor
Expert
it would be tough to say to MStarc that he's not being picked because his record in England is slightly worse than other nations when Warner's averaging barely half what he's scored in his career in Australia
Opeo
Roar Rookie
This is true, but it also happens a lot. Steve Smith’s average after 11 matches was 29. Mathew Hayden and Justin Langer both averaged less than 30 after 13 matches. Khawaja averaged 25 after nine matches. Steve Waugh after 20 tests was averaging 26. I am sure that there are others. Harris is not alone in struggling to translate first-class form to test form.
Micko
Roar Rookie
It looks very green too, so a traditional English seamer, as opposed to that Edgbaston flat track.
Rossi
Roar Rookie
He came in at 1/61 in his most recent outing
ols
Roar Pro
Even worse if the missus's don't like each other :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: