David Warner had amongst the most memorable debuts in international cricket, when he was plucked from obscurity - without having played a single first class match - and made a stunning 89 off 43 balls in a Twenty20 International against South Africa. The innings was all the more remarkable due to its timing, coming as it did after a morale-shattering home Test series loss for Australia in 2008-09. Warner was soon signed on by the Delhi Daredevils for the IPL. His nickname is Lloyd, and by the way he bats, it would be easy to compare him with the great West Indian Clive Lloyd in terms of power. With the T20 success, he made his ODI debut against the South Africans in Hobart. An aggressive 69 in just his 2nd ODI seemed to confirm the rare talent of Warner. However, as the ODIs progressed, his form dipped and he was axed before forcing his way back into the side. He continued to impress in the T20 format of the game, and was one of the few bright spots during Australias first round exit in the 2009 edition of the T20 WC in England. With a slot opening up in the Australian Test squad, Warner was one among the many choices. Already a regular in the ODI line-up, Warner made his Test debut against New Zealand in the Australian summer of 2011. After a modest debut at the Gabba, Warner came into his own with a career defining century at Hobart. He belied expectations and became the 13th Australian opener to carry his bat through an innings. If the knock at Hobart was full of grit and determination, he showed another side of his batting abilities when he blasted a listless Indian bowling attack to all parts of the WACA during a stunning career best knock of 180. Warner’s aggressive touch at the top of the order was in full flow once again when he creamed a superb 119 against a top notch South African attack at the Adelaide Oval in 2012. Warner has shown that he is no one hit wonder and is here to stay for long. On 12th June 2013, Warner was dropped for Australias second match in 2013 ICC Champions Trophy match against New Zealand following an attack on an England cricketer. It was later emerged that the player was Joe Root. The event happened hours after Saturdays loss to England at Edgbaston. According to the sports journalist Pat Murphy, the incident took place at 2am at the Walkabout bar in the centre of Birmingham. On 13th June 2013, the Australian Cricket Team announced that Warner was to be fined £7,000 (AU $11,500) and would not play for his country until the first Ashes Test on 10th July 2013. Warner subsequently missed the rest of the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy and the tour matches against Somerset and Worcestershire. A month later on 27th July 2013, while playing for Australia A against South Africa A in Pretoria Warner was involved in an on- field altercation with South Africa A wicket- keeper Thami Tsolekile. This was deemed serious enough for the umpires to step in twice, however no formal complaints were made and Warner tweeted later in the day describing it as \friendly banter\. He scored 193 in that match and he was eventually forgiven and was drafted into the Australian side for the 3rd Test against England. What followed was even more comical as he hooked one to Root and was caught on the boundary. In the Ashes series in Australia in 2013/14, he scored runs freely and emerged as the highest run scorer. He scored 523 runs from 5 matches at an average of 58.11, which included 2 hundreds and 2 fifties. Despite his heroics, Delhi Daredevils didnt retain him for the IPL season 2014 and he was later snapped up in the auctions in February 2014 by Sunrisers Hyderabad for a whopping amount of Rs 5.5 crores. He bettered his own effort in the Ashes 2013/14, by once again becoming the highest run getter in the 3-match Test series against the No.1 ranked team South Africa. He scored a mind boggling 543 runs from 6 innings at an average of 90.50, which included 3 hundreds, with 2 of those hundreds coming in the last Test. He was rightly declared as the Man of the Series.
Posted on: Fri, 24 Oct 2014 02:39:37 +0000
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