Tearful Warner reflects on game’s great bromance

No-one has batted more with David Warner than Usman Khajawa and the thought of the partnership ending has brought the opener to tears.

David Warner with his childhood friend Usman Khawaja ahead of his final Test Picture: Phil Hillyard

“I love him, hey,” David Warner says, choking up slightly with a display of emotion that surprises everybody in the room including his wife and three daughters.

The retiring player was asked about having Usman Khawaja, his oldest cricket friend, at the other end when his career finishes at the conclusion of the Sydney Test.

Half an hour later, pausing as he left the practice nets, Khawaja said he felt just the same way.

Warner had 13 different opening partners during his stint at the top of the order for the Australian Test team. Khawaja is the last of them and nothing could be more appropriate because theirs is a partnership that predates Test, first-class, grade, representative and even school cricket.

Mention of cricket’s most unlikely bromance had the words catching in the retiring batter’s throat, as he said, it is not that often that a friendship that began when you were six years old concluded on the biggest of stages.

It is appropriate that Warner bows out at the SCG. His first family home was the closest residential street to the ground, Khawaja lived nearby with his immigrant family, recently arrived from Pakistan, in a small flat.

The two boys met when their older siblings played for the same cricket team and invented games for themselves on the sidelines. The little brothers followed suit and were soon sharing the back seat of the Warner’s car on the way to under-age games.

Khawaja’s mum adored the mischievous, restless kid from down the road, but possibly offered a quiet prayer of thanks to the almighty that hers were not similarly wired.

David Warner during his sometimes tearful press conference. Picture: Richard Dobson

If the pair open in both innings of the SCG Test as planned this week, Khawaja will equal Chris Rogers’ tally of walking out with the retiring batter on 41 occasions.

“I was saying to Uzzie this morning when we were out in the middle, with his debut Test, I was actually sitting up in one of the boxes up there and it was awesome to see and it is a fairytale ending,” Warner said as the emotion of the scenario started to catch up.

“I don’t know too many cricketers who have gone through junior cricket with each other and played the highest level for a long period of time. Just to see him come back the way he has the last two years has been absolutely amazing.

“I know his family are really, really proud of him. I’m really, really proud of him as a mate and it brought a tear to my eye when he scored that hundred when he first came back.

“But … when you’re childhood friends and you get to go out here at the SCG as kids, dreaming big, it’s a great fitting. I love him, hey.”

Khawaja, who had been in the nets during the press conference, reinforces how unique the relationship is between the pair.

“This Test is going to be very, very special for both of us,” Khawaja said. “To have two guys of the same age group go through so much cricket together, our families have known each other, we’ve known each other for a long time.

“We met when our older brothers played together so it is a nice thing to be there when he finishes.”

Khawaja said that they had “always lived in different worlds”.

“We started off in the eastern suburbs when we were young but then my family moved to the western suburbs, so we were away from each other for a long time,” he said.

“Cricket brings us together, but we hang out a lot together outside of cricket.”

Khawaja is one of the more serene characters on and off the field while Warner has no off button and admitted on Monday that he can be a “pest” to his teammates.

“He’s worse off the ground, at least he has to concentrate when we are out in the middle together,” Khawaja joked.

The Sydney Test will be Warner’s 112th and last, he confirmed his retirement from ODI cricket but said he would, if his form was good and the selectors wanted him, be available for the Champions Trophy in 2025.

Warner has been one of the most divisive cricketers of his era. That aside, he ends his Test career as the most prolific opener to have played for his country and one many rate as the best all-format cricketer to do the same.

On the eve of his retirement, the opener whose career began with a spectacular dismantling of Dale Steyn at the SCG in January 2009, was asked how he would like to be remembered.

“Someone who has gone out there and just given it his all,” he said. “I’ve said this all along. A boy from housing commission having a dream.

“I’ve not always fitted the mould, but I’ve been authentic and honest and not someone different and I think that shows on the field in Test cricket, I’ve played the exact same way. I’m even playing lap shots like I do in T20 cricket.

“I’m still trying my best to get better even in this last Test. I’m hungry to score runs. It’s no different to any other game and I just want to leave behind that you can go out and play the way you want to play. You can play with ­freedom, you can play reverse sweeps like Joe Root if you want. You’ve got the ability to do that and you’ve got to trust and believe in yourself.”