Management gets a convenient chance to try Travis Head at the top without being seen to have made a definitive call on WarnerSo David Warner is heading home, arm busted and ambitions dented but that radiation-proof determination surely intact. Anyone who knows the feeling of broken bones could see what had happened as soon as he was hit by a Mohammed Siraj short ball during the Delhi Test. The way he yelped and flinched when the physio gently squeezed his arm reflects exactly that bright flash of pain that seems to start in the marrow and end between the temples.It was strange then that the initial response from Australia’s captain and coach was that he might recover for the third...
Before he was caught in the T20 World Cup semi-final off a ball he didn’t hit, the Australia opener proved his mettleIn the end, the story didn’t entirely deliver for David Warner. But in the end, it delivered enough. For what has felt like so long in the compressed world of short-course cricket, Australia’s opening bat has been out of form, out of runs, out of time, and eventually just out. The one thing he hasn’t been is out of patience. Warner’s reservoir of self-belief is profound enough to hide Loch Ness’s secrets. When he faces a struggle, he endures it until it passes. As he has creaked and stuttered after a couple of difficult stints in the IPL, he...
The man who legitimised T20 in his homeland has had a lean spell but has sprung to life in time for the World Cup knockoutsAs Australia qualified for the Twenty20 World Cup semi-finals by chasing 158 against West Indies, the most important piece dropped into place with a click. David Warner is Australia’s defining T20 player, ever since rising to prominence with a pyrotechnic national debut back in 2009. His current captain, Aaron Finch, may edge him on career runs after 13 matches in the past year that Warner missed, but Warner has still played the most T20s for Australia. He more than anyone legitimised the format in Australia by crossing from it to become a Test success. All the...
Sport often welcomes back a bad boy turned good but some offences lie so far beyond the pale a return is almost impossible despite protestationsSteve Smith and David Warner were booed during Australia’s warm-up fixtures against West Indies and England in Southampton. The Aussies won both matches, and Smith got runs in both, so perhaps they won’t care about a phenomenon that seems likely to continue throughout the World Cup, even if they get to the final on 14 July.According to Smith, who spoke after taking a ton off England’s bowlers at the Hampshire Bowl on Saturday, the chants of “Cheat! Cheat! Cheat!” are like “water off a duck’s back – it doesn’t bother me”. But it should, because it...
How what seemed a routine case of ball tampering quickly escalated into a national scandal that swept away Steve Smith, David Warner and Darren LehmannIt all ended in tears. Quite often it does in cricket. If nothing else, this week has been a reminder of the unique hold the game has on its players and, in the case of Australia, an entire nation. Add Steve Smith, David Warner and Darren Lehmann to a list of cricketers making tearful departures that includes Michael Vaughan, Kim Hughes, Hansie Cronje and more surprisingly – and privately – Brian Close when he was sensationally sacked by Yorkshire in 1970. Related: Australia's ball-tampering scandal delivers bout of soul-searching Related: Why did Smith and Bancroft have...