As far as legacy-defining moments go, it’s hard to beat David Warner depleting all energy reserves to score an unforgettable double century in the Boxing Day Test.
Warner was under heavy fire for a poor run of form but, in searing Melbourne heat, scored 200 against a strong South African attack before his body gave out.
The fact a trademark celebration leap was certain to trigger another round of cramps, and he did it anyway, couldn’t have been more fitting for the man, and the moment.
Defiance is a term often attached to Warner – and it doesn’t come much more defiant than happily inviting acute pain just to amplify what was already the ultimate message to his haters.
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If Warner limped from MCG to never be seen again in Test whites, there certainly would’ve been worse ways to go out.
That backs-to-the-wall century would not serve as the end of Warner’s Test career, however, despite murmurs heading into the summer that it could be his last.
He did nothing to dispel those rumours when he went on radio earlier in the summer and declared he could well be in his final 12 months of playing Test cricket.
That could yet be the case but, for now, Warner is pushing on with two daunting assignments laying before him.
Both have the ability to mould his entire Test legacy one last time.
Warner will always have the MCG double century – a moment in which his trademark defiance and downright tenacity crystalised, against all the odds, into a single iconic moment.
And yet, if he plays his cards right across just nine more Tests, he could end up with so much more.
Two of the greatest Test assignments are now up with this month’s four-Test Border-Gavaskar series, followed by the Ashes in the middle of the year.
There’s no denying that performances in these pressure-filled away series have a way of capturing the attention, and respect, of the Australian cricket public like no other.
Perhaps it’s just the Australian way. The plight of the underdog has always captivated this island nation, with big shows on the overseas stage a passage straight into Australians’ hearts. For example, when foxsports.com.au counted down the top 20 Ashes performances of the past 20 years in December 2021, of the five batting innings to make the top 10, four were in England.
There’s also the fact that performing away from home in Test cricket is, statically speaking, an awfully difficult thing to do.
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As things stand, Warner has a case for partnering Matthew Hayden in Australia’s all-time Test XI, thanks to more than a decade of plundering runs at home – and at an exceptional clip, too.
Kerry O’Keeffe said as much during the summer, adding: “To maintain a strike rate of over 70 through 100 Tests is phenomenal. He’s decided games.”
But for the matter to be decided beyond all reasonable doubt, and for a strong Test legacy to be turned into legendary, Warner needs a big show in a big away series.
Outside of an exceptional tour of South Africa in 2014, and a solid 2015 Ashes, Warner has been lacking on this front.
In 14 away Test series, he’s averaged more than 30 only four times. Of his 25 Test centuries, five were scored on foreign soil. Three came in that 2014 South Africa series, two against Bangladesh in 2017, while none have been scored in India or England.
Of the 56 Australians to have scored more than 1,000 Test runs away from home, more than half of those (29) have enjoyed an average over 40.00.
This includes the who’s who of Australian men’s cricket, from Bradman to Smith, Langer to Hayden, Border to Ponting, the Chappell brothers, the Waugh brothers and so on.
It also includes other Australians from this century that are less celebrated, like Darren Lehmann, Simon Katich or Chris Rogers.
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As for Warner, he’s 46th out of 56 on the list when sorted by average.
He’s made 2,754 runs at 32.78 from 44 Tests away from home. That’s nearly 30 runs behind Smith’s away record (60.39), and Warner’s own average at home.
Of the 10 Australians below him on the list, two are spinners Shane Warne and Richie Benaud, and three are wicketkeepers Brad Haddin, Ian Healy, and Rod Marsh.
None of this is to drum up some poor image of Warner because, conversely, you could note that when the same filter is applied to home conditions, he’s high on the list.
A total of 63 Australians have made more than 1,000 Test runs at home, and Warner’s average of 58.39 is the seventh-best behind only Bradman, Bob Cowper, Marnus Labuschagne, Smith, Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey.
What’s more is that in the past century, only Adam Gilchrist (81.41) has a better strike rate at home than Warner’s 73.26.
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Given about half of Australia’s cricket is played at home, this is nothing short of an immense record that simply must be acknowledged.
It’s certainly enough to make Warner a bonafide great of Australian Test cricket.
But the point remains that for Warner to achieve some sort of immortal status, he must deliver over the coming months in India, England, or both.
Making matters worse is that Australia has squeezed about every last drop out of the Warner lemon since August, when its home summer started.
Since then, he played in white ball series against Zimbabwe, New Zealand, England and the West Indies, every Australia game at the T20 World Cup, then all five Tests across December and January. That was followed by six BBL matches for the Thunder in the space of two weeks, and the Australian cricket awards night, before boarding a plane for India.
Understandably, Warner said he would’ve preferred a night in over suiting up for the awards night.
“It’s been challenging,” Warner said. “I’m quite tired, exhausted.
“From my perspective, it would have been nice to have had another night at home. But it is what it is.”
How he picks himself up for one of the most intense cricket assignments there is is anyone’s guess.
Nonetheless, Australia coach Andrew McDonald said he has no doubt Warner will find a way, and insisted that he hadn’t noticed “any fatigue” in the batter since arriving in India.
“I would probably dispel that as a bit of a myth,” McDonald told reporters of Warner’s fatigue.
“We are managing each individual coming in around their specific preparation and where they have been and there is no doubt it was a demanding summer into BBL, and it creates a challenge back into Test match cricket.
“But we feel the preparation we have him on, he will be recharged and ready to go.”
Warner has only one more day to fully recharge before the series starts in Nagpur on Thursday (3pm AEDT).
He picks up in India having left behind a worrisome Test record. Warner toured India in 2013 and 2017 for two Australian defeats, making 388 runs at 24.25 with a high score of 71.
Since his last Test tour of India, however, Warner has continued to amass a wealth of experience playing white ball cricket in the Asian nation, setting IPL records while performing well in ODIs. He averages more than 55 from eight ODIs in India, while he has been the IPL’s top run-scorer three times, and was the fastest to score 5,000 runs in the competition.
McDonald acknowledged that Warner’s struggles in India have been “well-documented”, but revealed that the left-hander has a plan to overturn them.
“It’s always challenging,” he said.
“But I think the way he is applying himself in his downtime to really land on a method to take on the Indian spinners and also the quicks and to have a successful tour, I think you will see him fully invigorated and invested and fully charged for the challenge ahead.”
McDonald and selectors are firmly with Warner.
The numbers and history away from home are against him.
And yet, there’s another factor – one that’s impossible to quantify – that could have the biggest say this year, and add the final touches to Warner’s Test legacy.
It’s what saw the left-hander make that double century at the MCG in December when nothing – in a pure cricketing sense, anyway – said he would.
Call it grit, ambition, or simply some innate hunger to give the middle finger to his doubters.
Speaking to foxsports.com.au in August, Warner described it as a “non-fear of failure”.
“We were in Zimbabwe (in 2011) and I said (to Nathan Lyon), ‘Mate, I’ll be opening the batting come Christmas time’, and I did,” Warner remembered.
“I think that was just the confidence that I’ve always had. I’ve always had great self-belief.
“I’ve also always had that non-fear of failure. At the end of the day you’re playing a game that you’re going to get dropped (in). You have to accept that early on.”
Whatever it is, it means you cannot write Warner off, no matter the situation.