Inside the intriguing relationship of Steve Smith and David Warner ahead of Sydney Smash blockbuster
Steve Smith and David Warner have spent the majority of their lives together, yet couldn’t be more polar opposites. We go inside their intriguing relationship.
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If David Warner and Steve Smith’s dynamic on the tennis court is anything to go by, prepare for fireworks at the SCG tonight.
“They’re very happy to support one another when they’re the same doubles pairing,” one teammate told News Corp.
“And very happy to rip each other apart when on opposite sides of the net.”
Both superstars have agreed to be mic’d by Fox Cricket up for the nearly sold out Sydney Smash BBL blockbuster, and Fox could do worse than call Usman Khawaja down from Queensland as a guest commentator to help light the fuse.
The usual tennis match-up is Smith and Labuschagne v Warner and Khawaja.
It’s Khawaja who understands the Warner and Smith relationship better than anyone, and on the court, knows exactly what to say to wind the two cricket greats up.
“Usman will lob these verbal grenades, and Steve and David will go off,” the teammate said.
“It’s that competitive spirit.”
It will be must-watch television when Smith or Warner is at the crease and commentating their innings on one mic, and the other man is in the field talking the audience through the hunt for that golden wicket.
Only rarely have Smith and Warner squared off against each other as they will tonight when the Sixers and Thunder go to battle in a match – exclusive to Fox Cricket – that has the potential to be one of the biggest in the history of the Big Bash.
They played one BBL game against each other more than a decade ago, and have played a handful of Indian Premier League matches in opposite corners as well.
But the most notable time when they found themselves in opposing dressing rooms was during their 12 month bans from playing international cricket.
On the opposite side of the globe, Smith and Warner found themselves at a table eating breakfast together in Toronto, Canada, as they prepared to make their return to cricket in opposing uniforms in the start-up T20 league on a cow paddock on the outskirts of the North American city.
Moises Henriques – a mutual friend of both – has grown up with them in Sydney, was in Toronto for that strange time post Sandpaper, and understands better than most the competitive rivalry that has helped drive Smith and Warner to greatness.
For many years there, Warner and Smith went hundred for hundred in Test cricket, almost as if there was a game within a game.
When Smith scored a hundred for the Sixers in Coffs Harbour on Tuesday night, Henriques only had one thought.
“To be honest, I thought yesterday when Davey was playing after Smudge scored that hundred that if the Thunder batted first there would have been nothing surer than Davey trying to score 102 and just outdo smudge by one run,” Henriques said.
“They’ve always had that really healthy competitive nature about them and that’s part of why they’re so good.
“They try and outdo each other with the bat.
“Try and outdo each other in the field and it’s actually led to them both being really terrific fielders and obviously terrific batsmen in all three formats of the game.
“They are very different people but one thing that they both carry is once they step on the field they’re extremely competitive and they’ll do whatever the team needs to win.
“We’ve got our work cut out for us playing against the Bull tomorrow. But we’ve also got Smudge in our ranks which is a very nice bonus.”
Smith and Warner have spent the majority of their lives in each other’s pockets, yet couldn’t be more polar opposites as people.
They’re the odd couple, while being two batsmen of their generation.
Warner the square-jawed street fighter, Smith a man of quirks and idiosyncrasies.
But in Toronto back in late 2018 – exiled from the mainstream cricket world they had dominated for so many years – there was a sense of shared experience between Warner and Smith that has carried through this last chapter of their careers.
Both have felt somewhat mistreated by Cricket Australia to varying levels since Sandpapergate, and despite the fact they’re very different people – Warner and Smith’s extraordinary banishment from the game is a level of personal torture no one else in the Australian team can relate to.
“From my point of view, banning for life from leadership is just fundamentally wrong,” Smith said, speaking out about Warner’s leadership ban, which he sees as an injustice.
“David served his time like I did.”
How Smith v Warner showpiece reignited AFL, cricket feud
The battle is intensifying for Sydney’s most precious piece of sporting real estate, as cricket squared off with cross-code rivals the Swans on the eve of the Warner v Smith showdown at the SCG.
An AFL-led push for the SCG to ditch 140 years of Test match tradition and move to a drop-in wicket was reignited last week when the voice of cricket in Sydney, Jim Maxwell, unexpectedly jumped the fence to throw his support behind the controversial change.
Sydney Swans chairman Andrew Pridham said it was “astonishing” the SCG hadn’t already followed Adelaide Oval and the MCG to drop-in surfaces as he declared the AFL to be the “predominant sport driving the economics” of the iconic stadium.
But as the Big Bash predicts a potential sellout of the SCG on Saturday night for the Sydney Smash blockbuster between Smith’s Sixers and Warner’s Thunder, cricket warned the Swans to back off its turf.
“In regards to the wicket itself, I don’t hold the view that a drop-in is the best thing, and neither does Cricket NSW,” Lee Germon, CEO of Cricket NSW said in response to Maxwell describing the SCG pitch (which has hosted six out of the last eight draws in Australian Test cricket) as “moribund”.
“I saw some comments about AFL driving the economic importance of the SCG, which I’d also refute,” Germon said as administrators anticipate a crowd in excess of 37,000 for the Smith v Warner showpiece.
“It’s called the Sydney Cricket Ground and the Swans play in the Sydney Cricket Ground.
“When you look at what the Test match, this year’s T20 World Cup as well as what BBL matches bring to the stadium economically and to our state, I think it’s pretty clear that cricket is the key economic driver for that ground and would be far ahead of AFL on a holistic revenue basis.”
The Swans strongly refute those claims and point to the AFL’s superior annual attendances over cricket.
The AFL powerhouse has routinely welcomed over 350,000 fans through the gates since 2016 (barring the 2020 Covid year), and this year that number reached 370,000.
Cricket’s attendance numbers are up this year (390,000), aided by the artificial rare boost of hosting six T20 World Cup matches. But normally annual attendances across Test match, white ball internationals and Big Bash for a summer would sit in the estimated vicinity of 250,000-280,000.
Pridham said the SCG risked becoming unfit for purpose and robbing punters if it doesn’t make the switch to drop-in wickets which have enhanced the cricketing and AFL experience in Adelaide and Melbourne.
“The SCG is a major multipurpose sporting arena. It has a global reputation. It does not belong to cricket or AFL, it belongs to the people of NSW. Being multipurpose in 2023 must also mean fit for purpose,” Pridham told News Corp.
“Last year 370,000 fans attended Sydney Swans games at the SCG and many millions watched the broadcast. No one will forget the now iconic round two game last year when Buddy Franklin kicked his 1000th goal.
“As always we work cooperatively with the SCG Trust and other sports, in particular cricket to find a solution that works for everyone. I just ask that people have open minds and make their focus finding solutions and not problems.
“The SCG is constantly changing as are the sports. We cannot become stuck in the mud, or in this instance stuck in the Bulli clay. Everyone fears change but it is time.”
AFL broadcasters complain about the aesthetics of the SCG wicket square compared to other grounds around the country, while those same broadcasters Seven and Fox would love the quality of Sydney Test matches to match the enormity of the event after years of rain and laborious draws.
When the SCG last investigated the merits of switching to a drop-in wicket back in 2019, it formed a ‘wicket committee’ which received submissions from Cricket NSW and Cricket Australia both stridently against a move away from traditional wickets.
“Our position remains the same. The dynamic is the risk rests entirely with cricket,” Cricket Australia’s head of cricket operations, Peter Roach said.
“The AFL get trays of grass tomorrow and there’s no risk for them because that can happen at any time. The risk for us with any change from natural to drop-ins is you potentially lose forever (the ground’s characteristics).
“ … I would say cricket is seen as the No. 1 tenant … you look at the people who are buying SCG memberships, and I would suggest there would be a leaning towards cricket.”
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