Big Bash League: Helicopter hired, SCG turf prepared for David Warner’s showstopping BBL return

The chopper is on standby and the Sydney Cricket Ground turf has been prepared for David Warner’s showstopping Big Bash League return.

The chopper is on standby and the turf has been prepared.

David Warner will be landing on the SCG before the BBL game between the Sixers and Thunder on Friday night.

Earlier in the week, Cricket NSW and Venues NSW were negotiating to have Warner land on Allianz Stadium before making his way next door for the game.

However, with timings now locked in, Warner will arrive directly on the SCG at approximately 5pm on Friday following a 45-minute flight from Cessnock after attending his brother’s wedding in the Hunter Valley.

The helicopter is set to land in front of the ground’s famous Members’ Stand and on the same piece of turf that had a “Thanks Dave” message painted on it during last week’s third Test against Pakistan.

Warner was in attendance at the ground on Thursday for an optional training for the Thunder.

While he didn’t have a big session, he spent a long time chatting with teammates before his first BBL game of the season.

“[There was] a little bit of chatter about the helicopter,” Gurinder Sandhu said.

“I had a few questions for him. I wanted to get on the helicopter actually and make my way down with him. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’d be able to do that.

Warner will return to his home ground on Friday night for the Big Bash via helicopter. Picture: Julian Andrews

“It was awesome having him around again. It shows what kind of person he is just to come down and spend a couple of hours with the guys that were training.”

As Warner left the venue, he stopped to take photos with a number of the net bowlers who had participated in the session.

During a conversation with Sixers and NSW teammates Sean Abbott and Steve O’Keefe, he also pointed to the sky and waved as another helicopter flew overhead.

“He is a bit Hollywood, isn’t he?” Abbott said. “It is very Davey.

“I got the Lime bike in today and I’ll be doing the same tomorrow night. So I’ll be riding out the gate there as Davey lands.

“But I’m glad they’re making it happen because I think everyone in the country who is a fan of cricket wants to see David Warner playing in the BBL.

“I’m really looking forward to coming up against one of the best players in the world. He has been for a long time.”

O’Keefe added: “Doesn’t that add to the whole spectacle that’s T20 cricket.

“Davey flying in on a helicopter, probably a few beers in tow, comes out smacks a hundred, and then [Steve] Smith smacks a hundred.

“It would just be a quality atmosphere for those guys and for the people watching.”

Abbott and Sandhu have had a front-row seat to most of Warner’s career and agree the spectacular arrival is in style with the opener. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Weather still has the potential to derail Warner’s arrival at the SCG. The forecast for Moore Park suggests there could be slight rainfall in the area in the afternoon.

While alternate landing sites are being worked on if Warner is running late, a weather disruption to the flight would likely mean that the superstar opener does not play in the game.

The Thunder’s finals chances could already be over. The side is depending on the results of other teams to miraculously find a way into the top four.

However, Warner’s teammates are grateful that he is still making the effort to come back.

“He’s going to a lot of effort to come and play,” Sandhu said. “Last year he was awesome for us.

“He maybe didn’t score as many runs as he would have liked but he was awesome around the group and was passing on information.

“I think he’s one of the better team men that we have in Cricket Australia and now all the fans get to enjoy him playing cricket.

“Hopefully, he can put his best foot forward and score a hundred like he did in BBL01 playing for the Thunder.

“Plus with his energy out in the field, it’ll be awesome having him out there.”

Warner’s Thunder teammates are hopeful he can recreate his BBL01 heroics. Picture: George Salpigtidis

While Abbott questioned whether he would make the same level of commitment if it was his sibling’s wedding – “If I missed my brother’s wedding he would probably … jab me in the jaw a few times” – he also paid tribute to the Warner who most cricket fans don’t get to see.

“Davey has been one of these guys for as long as I’ve known him, when I was getting into the Australian team … he’s always been so good with his time for me,” Abbott said.

“[He has] taken me under his wing, whether it’s been the IPL in India or on tour with the Aussie stuff.

“He’s always made time for me and is someone I’m grateful to spend time with.

“You see him get a bad wrap here or there but throughout his career, whenever he’s been able to give time to the Big Bash, or people like me, he’s done that.

“He’s a guy who has been playing 12 months a year for his whole career and he always came back on the next plane trip to play domestic cricket.

“We’re fortunate that we get to go up against him tomorrow night … especially in a season that you wouldn’t say is as successful as the Thunder boys had planned.”

WARNER’S NOT-SO TELL-ALL

- Daniel Cherny

David Warner has hinted that those expecting him to reveal the full extent of culpability for the ball-tampering plot in his forthcoming autobiography are likely to be disappointed.

However, the opening great says his book will still “raise some eyebrows” when it is released.

Warner has been working on telling the story of his career, the Test stage of which came to a close on the weekend in Sydney.

A publication date remains unclear given the former Test vice-captain is still playing Twenty20 internationals and has left the door ajar to a return to the Australian one-day side at next year’s Champions Trophy.

While Warner’s bumpy journey from housing commission flats to superstardom has no shortage of fodder for a tome, there is one chapter to which most will jump as soon as the book becomes available.

It is the story of the 2018 tour of South Africa and the road that culminated in Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft being suspended from professional cricket for the sandpaper affair in the third Test at Cape Town.

An emotional David Warner during a press conference soon after the 2018 ball tampering incident in South Africa. Picture: Getty Images

Speaking in the aftermath of his Test farewell, Warner told the Club Prairie Fire podcast that his book would be a behemoth.

“I have to edit a few chapters now,” Warner said. “There are a few that have been added.

“It was 1500 pages, it’s probably now 2000. It’s not that many.

“There’s one in the pipeline and I think it’ll be an interesting read. There are going to be a lot of things in that book that I think are going to raise some eyebrows.”

Pressed by cricket legend and host Adam Gilchrist about how much he would potentially tip the bucket on others over the infamous episode five years ago, Warner suggested that he was unlikely to point fingers at others despite years of speculation that knowledge around Australia’s practices extended beyond the three men punished.

“It’s something that’s been thought of,” Warner said. “You look down the track to where we are today, it is in the past.

“It does keep getting brought up. There’s been a lot of speculation, a lot of comments about it but from me it’s about this team moving forward.

Warner has hinted that he will pull punches when it comes to the ball tampering saga. Picture: Saeed KHAN / AFP

“It’s really important that the Australian cricket team’s in a great space, that we’re playing well in all three formats.

“I think that’s the utmost priority. My side of the story and all that, that could be told whenever.

“There are going to be some things in the book that are going to be related to 2018.

“It’s not potentially going to be around what I know, what others know, because then it just becomes a tit-for-tat.

“It’s not that kind of story. I want it to be about my journey, my upbringing. There are going to be a few things in there.

“You have the Joe Root saga (when he punched the future England captain in 2013).

“There are so many different things in there, there are a lot of things in there.

“It’ll be an interesting read and when the time comes we can all pick it to pieces.”

Originally published as Big Bash League: Helicopter hired, SCG turf prepared for David Warner’s showstopping BBL return