In defence of David Warner: the outsider who can’t escape his past

David Warner in his international debut in 2009 against South Africa, left, and Warner on Sunday against Sri Lanka in Adelaide. Picture: News Corp/Getty Images

David Warner was almost back where it all began with that T20 century against Sri Lanka in ­Adelaide on Sunday.

Almost, but not really. Because, you see, there’s been so much happen since the precocious batsman announced himself with an 89 from 64 balls at the MCG a decade back.

He was the first man to debut for his country before playing a first-class fixture and he slaughtered the bowling in that match, slapping two 4s from Lonwabo Tsotsobe’s first over, then two sixes off Makhaya Ntini, a couple of fours off Jacques Kallis and ­another two sixes off Dale Steyn before anybody realised what was going on.

Warner celebrates his ton against Sri Lanka. Picture: Sarah Reed

He did much the same on Sunday, single-handedly outscoring Sri Lanka in what was his first game at home for his country since February last year.

Back in 2009, the man they call Davey was considered a slogger who most people thought wouldn’t amount to much.

NSW were so reluctant to give him a go at Sheffield Shield level he looked to leave the state. It was only when Phillip Hughes and Usman Khawaja departed that a permanent spot opened up for him.

Nobody believed he would be a Test player or wanted to be one. He was picked as the pin-up boy for the new era of carnival cricket and no matter how many times he said he wanted to play Test cricket, nobody really believed him.

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You should never doubt David Warner. That just makes him more determined.

In 2011, he was called in as cover for the Australian side’s last Test against South Africa in Johannesburg, but sent home early when not needed. When he left the foyer of the hotel, he looked over his shoulder and said “Next time you see me, I’ll be playing Test cricket for Australia”. It seemed unlikely at the time but proved true. He made his debut in Brisbane a few weeks later.

Warner in 2011. Picture: Colleen Petch

Some 21 Test centuries later, he is still dismissed by armchair experts as a slogger not suited to the five-day game. Or of a character not suited to it.

His achievements are acknowledged begrudgingly, his sins judged more harshly.

His T20 hundred is taken with a grain of salt by some who say it will not make up for failure in the Ashes. His century in the first round of the Sheffield Shield was dismissed the same way. As if he meant to let everybody down. As if he wasn’t one of five opening batsmen to fail in the series.

Nobody felt the frustration of Warner’s poor return in the Ashes more than Warner. He was tormented by Stuart Broad and his inability to turn things around. Most others would have been granted an escape by selectors but he was told to keep trying.

It was a mark of his character that he continued to front every day with the same grin, the same energy, the same positive attitude. Warner will contribute anything he can to the competition: if he can’t score runs, he’ll run harder after a ball to the boundary, he’ll dash to the fence to get the bowler’s jumper and hat to ease his load, he’ll present an impeccable face so that opponent and colleague are denied a glimpse of the anxiety eating him up.

Warner is judged differently to most other people who play the game. Steve Smith received a two-year leadership ban for South Africa, Warner’s is a life sentence. In Cricket Australia’s estimation, he can never be re­habilitated on that level.

Warner following the ball-tampering scandal. Picture: AFP

He will probably captain a team in The Hundred in England next year and is likely to return to a leadership role in the IPL but can never do the same at home in the BBL. It’s a situation that hurts him, particularly as he is probably one of the most astute short-form tacticians in the world.

Smith was chosen as part of a number of sponsor advertisements with Cricket Australia’s commercial partners at the start of the summer, Warner for none. That’s a situation that looks unlikely to change.

There is widespread endorsement of the idea Smith can return to the captaincy.

When Smith cried on return from South Africa, it melted many hearts. When Warner did, there was mostly cynicism.

His emotions apparently didn’t quite hit the right note. Smith and Cameron Bancroft did tell-all interviews as part of their pathway back to public acceptance, Warner has kept his own counsel since that first apology.

Albert Camus noted that the protagonist in his classic novel The Outsider was held guilty because his emotions seemed in­appropriate in response to the charges he faced and because he had not cried at his mother’s ­funeral. “He refuses to make life simpler,” the author noted. Warner refuses to make life simpler, and always has.

He is complex and can be irritating, he holds himself slightly outside the group but has a circle of close friends who would do anything for him and he for them.

Warner could have rejected the trials of Test cricket for a ­simpler life back in 2009 and again in 2019.

It would have been easier for him to walk away when it all got so ugly after Cape Town and he would still have earned millions as a soldier of fortune, but that’s not him. He is almost compulsively competitive and an inveterate contrarian and his resolve to come back is as great as Smith’s, possibly greater because it will encounter a level of cynicism and criticism the former — future? — captain never will.