The Ashes: Why David Warner let silence tell his story
David Warner was adamant to not make his retirement dictate the Ashes, instead allowing what he did with the willow on the pitch do the talking.
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It might not fit the narrative of what critics like to project about David Warner, but the star opener takes a low-key role in the latest Test documentary.
Conscious of not wanting to make his impending retirement a theme of the third instalment of the series to be released on Prime this Friday, Warner is the only Ashes squad member not interviewed.
But Warner still features in key moments of the four-part doco, including the humorous retelling of his side-splitting retort to Jonny Bairstow in the lunch room at Lord’s shortly after Australia’s controversial stumping dismissal of the England star.
“You almost missed a brawl in the lunch room,” Marnus Labuschagne excitedly tells teammates and staff members in behind-the-scenes footage from Lord’s.
“Jonny came in hot. He goes,’ are you guys happy with that?’
“ … Davey is mid chicken and he just stops and takes it out and goes, ‘Yeah. Very.’
“It was freakin’ priceless.”
Before that story, Labuschagne also makes the stunning allegation that Warner was “kicked” by an MCC member while walking through The Long Room.
Warner’s live commentary of a flashpoint in the fifth Test at The Oval where Ben Stokes fails to claim a certain catch off Steve Smith after bungling his attempted celebration is another highlight of the doco.
“Karma gets ya. Karma gets ya. Mother cricket doesn’t lie,” Warner says out loud in the dressing room after Stokes declined to invoke the spirit of cricket he accused Australia of lacking earlier in the series at Lord’s and sent the Smith non-catch up to the third umpire to adjudicate.
“Can’t complain now spirit of cricket.”
Warner’s raw and unedited frustration at becoming a victim of the ball change furore in the fifth and final Test is also captivating viewing and further proof of how The Test does gives fans a unique window into the inner-workings of the dressing room.
“F***ing hit the top of the f***ing shoulder. F***ing 41 f***ing overs, the f***ing ball is brand f***ing new, mate,” Warner verbalises upon walking back into the Australian dressing room.
The Test documents some truly emotional moments including Pat Cummins’ embracing his father after winning Australia the World Test Championship in extraordinary fashion at The Oval, just months after the sad death of his mother.
“I’m so happy you’re here,” Cummins is captured as saying as he and his father shed tears in each other’s arms.
Footage of Nathan Lyon literally weeping in the sheds after limping off with the calf injury which would end his Ashes and change the course of the series is the most evocative footage you could imagine seeing in a sports documentary.
The drama-fuelled Ashes creates an enthralling series in itself, but Cricket Australia and film makers would be kicking themselves that they did not send cameras to the World Cup at the end of 2023.
Australia’s epic triumph in that tournament from the cusp of elimination would have made the most extraordinary final arc to the tale.
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Originally published as The Ashes: Why David Warner let silence tell his story
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