The Bull is at the gate again after his MCG epic

Marnus Labuschagne had a special gift waiting for David Warner after the opener’s epic double century in his 100th Test match this week

David Warner poses with Marnus Labuschagne's gift. Picture: Instagram.

Marnus Labuschagne had a special gift waiting for David Warner after the opener’s epic double century in his 100th Test match this week. Everybody’s annoying little brother had pinned up his dirty match shirt in the veteran’s corner with a special message and his signature.

“David Warner’s 100th Test. Thanks for the BBQ.”

It was, if you hadn’t already guessed, a reference to the fact that Warner had run out his partner on the way to the milestone. It also was an indication of the sort of place this team finds itself in.

That, one imagines, is going straight into the pool room.

Later, a smiling Warner posed for a picture with the shirt that Labuschagne posted on social media.

On a slightly more serious note, there were many things the 36-year-old will take away from the match.

The team, which cherishes his dedication, talent and relentless competitiveness more than most imagine, organised a framed photograph to commemorate his career and called in Ricky Ponting to present it to the batsman.

Warner’s wife, children, parents and childhood friends were among the small throng on hand for the casual ceremony.

It’s not often a player gets to the 100 mark. It’s even rarer they achieve so much when they do. Ponting, of course, is the only other Australian to score a hundred in his 100th Test. He did it in both innings.

Warner didn’t get a chance to bat again, but surely even he will be sated by the 200 singular in the first innings.

He’ll take away from the milestone the memory of the worst cramping he’s ever experienced. The toll of gripping the bat, running so very, very hard between wickets, and batting for 366 minutes in enervating heat was not quite to the level of Dean Jones in Chennai, but significant still.

He’d leapt high in the traditional manner on reaching the first century, but when the second came he initially fell to his knees and pumped his fists, before impulse got the better of him.

“I only did the one on my knees because I knew I couldn’t jump,” he said soon after the match.

“And then I thought ‘stuff it, I’m gonna try and jump’. Lo and behold, my calf went on me.

“That was the last thing to go on me and that was it, I had absolutely nothing.

“It started in my adductors early on, I had some pickle juice … actually my forearm went first, I took my armguard off that I normally wear and it just started going through the whole entire body.

“I think I swept one and my hamstring went, and from there it was horrible.

“I’ve never experienced those types of cramps before and if you had a camera in the changeroom for the next hour after, it was comical.”

The thing we will all take away from the extraordinary innings is that we should never, ever, ever, write off the man they call The Bull, because no matter how compelling the evidence, or collective the opinion to the contrary, the man’s self belief is more powerful.

Despite not scoring a Test century for 1086 days, despite the evidence of his advancing age and declining average, Warner never lost faith in himself.

“No, never,” he says. “I’ve spoken plenty of times about going out there and having my back up against the wall and just being out of runs. That’s pretty much as it is.

“I spoke about in the nets, I wish I could get out a little bit more so it actually would give me something when I’m out there.

“I spoke in the press leading into this game it was more about looking to score rather than defend when I was out there, and I was able to do that.

“I’m in a happy place as I have been for a long time now.

“I would have liked some runs in the West Indies series.

“But for me it was about being out of runs, never out of form.

“I was moving well in the nets, I think if you keep going back into the nets and searching for things that aren’t there you start thinking ‘am I out of form?’, but I’m definitely not. I had my chances this game, I made the most of it.

“I put them on the back foot as I spoke about beforehand in my pre-interview with Fox, about taking it to the bowlers and looking to score rather than trying to get in and use my defence. My attack is the best form of defence and I was able to do that this game.”

On reflection, Warner thinks that maybe the problem over the past few summers was he’d tried to be too responsible, perhaps he’d let his age and status distract him from what he does best.

Which is, as he noted, attack.

“I was just thinking to myself ‘so be it, if I’m gonna down swinging I may as well go down playing a cover drive and nick off rather than defending and getting caught at third slip’,” he said.

“It’s one of those things I’ve always had in the back of my mind, just go out there and play that way. I’ve always done that in Australia, and tentative is probably the wrong word. I think I’ve allowed myself to go a bit defensive instead of looking to score because of the wickets.

“If you look at the way Travis Head has come out and played his natural game, he managed to do that last year against England in Hobart, and he’s done it continuously through this summer as well.

“It’s about just having that comfort of backing yourself and I always do that, but I felt a sense of responsibility to actually adapt to the wicket and conditions that were in front of me.

“But now it’s just going back to looking to score then my defence will take care of itself.”

Warner brought up his 8000th run in the innings, only six Australians — Ricky Ponting (13, 378, 168 Tests), Allan Border (11,175, 156 Tests), Steve Waugh (10,927 168 Tests), Michael Clarke (8643, 115 Tests), Matthew Hayden (8625, 103 Tests) and Steve Smith (8543, 91 Tests) — have scored more.

None, have ever scored them with the aggression and haste Warner has. His strike rate sets him apart and is an indication of his unique value to the side.

Where others wait until the bowling is worn down — by time or by others — he fires his shots from the outset.

Asked where the double hundred rates among the 25 innings of 100 or more in his career, he weighs it against the 180 he scored in Perth against India in what was just his fifth Test.

The first 100 runs in that innings came from 69 balls, late on the first day, after India had been dismissed for 161.

It was the sort of innings that brings an opposition to its knees, but Warner thinks the one that brought him to his knees might rate alongside it, especially given everything thing that was happening and everything that has happened in the decade since.

Captain Pat Cummins noted after the win that this is a special team in a special place.

Warner is feeling the love and it reminds him of the side he first walked in to.

“When I first started and had guys like Ricky and Mike Hussey, and Watto and the rest of them, it was awesome,” he said.

“It was great, I was walking into a changeroom full of stars, guys I idolised. From then to now, being a senior, it’s almost like I’ve walked back into that changeroom again. We’ve got a great core bunch of people.

“It’s a core group that’s pretty stuck together, we’re very solid.

“The selectors have shown faith in the 15 they’re constantly picking for the squads, and that shows the quality of the people that are here as well.

“We’ve got a lot of cricket ahead of us, but we know in tough times – we’ve been through Covid and whatnot, and we’ve stuck together really well. I think Pakistan brought us even more together because we were pretty much under one banner the whole time. This team has got a great thing happening at the moment and obviously showing the leadership through the bowling attack and led by our skipper, Patty.”

And, they are not finished yet. Neither is Warner.

“As I said before, I’m running faster than a lot of these youngsters in here so when they catch up to me then I might think about pulling the pin,” he said.

“The extra motivation for me is winning in India, and completely winning a series in England. I’ve been told by the coach and the selectors they would like me to be there.

“Obviously there was a lot of stuff before this series going on in my mind. Was there doubts? Yeah of course there were doubts in my mind but for me it was about just going out there and still knowing I’ve got that hunger and determination because every time I rock up at training, I’ve got it. And people keep telling me ‘you’ll know when it’s time’, and I haven’t really felt that at all yet. I’m still enjoying it, I still know what energy I can bring to the team.

“I think once I start losing that spark and energy around training, and taking the mickey out of people and playing some jokes here and there, and pranks, I think that’s when I’ll probably know it’s time.”

Hang on a minute, did he just say the word “doubt”?

Perish the thought.