Weary warrior Warner may have lost his appetite for the fight

David Warner snicks a ball to be dismissed for 21 on the first day of the second Test at Adelaide Oval. Picture: AFP.

Has the finish line got closer for David Warner. If he was to walk away sooner rather than later who could blame him?

There’s only so much bearing of the unbearable. Only so many times you can dust yourself off, so many times you can suck it up.

You’re 36, you’re getting too old for this crap.

His wife said “enough is enough” on air before a ball was bowled in this match. Runs aren’t coming, things aren’t turning his way, all the stoicism and dedication he has shown since returning from the year-long ban have amounted to nothing. Possibly less than nothing.

She was talking about an appeals process, but it wouldn’t be hard to extrapolate more from her words.

The promised reward for his good behaviour was a mirage. Another sucker punch.

Warner had already indicated that he is approaching the end. Coaches fond of calendar wisdom like to say “as soon as you start to think of retiring you are retired”. It’s a cliche but there could be something to it.

The first Test against South Africa is his 99th, Boxing Day is his 100th. His plans for the future had included India and the Ashes, a World Test championship and a World Cup.

What’s the point of being buried in a far corner of a foreign field?

That sort of dance card involved him playing all this summer then jumping on the plane to India in February and not returning until August.

England has not been a happy hunting ground and he is at the part of your career where it begins to take effort to hold ground where once that made you better.

When Warner invokes his need to protect his family on walking away from the appeals process the day before the match they were not hollow words.

They all say that when there’s trouble afoot, but the left handed batsman lives it.

The morning of the match he was with them all as he so often is, but they’re growing older, and travel is getting harder, and he does not like to be separated from them.

There was a look of defeat in Warner’s eye when he again aimed a whoosh at a wide one on the first morning. He knew he’d left runs out there and he might be starting to wonder why this keeps happening.

If it keeps happening it becomes harder to go on. What joy is there in him battling the fates, fighting the phantoms, when the game has lost his love for him?

I watched Warner, unable to bat or focus in the nets in the practice session before the first Test in India in 2014.

They had buried Phillip Hughes in the heat at Macksville a few days earlier and they were doing their best to carry on.

Back then the Bull was indomitable. He struck out in his grief, sending a series of balls to the boundaries before the fans had taken their seats. He hit six fours in the first two overs he thrashed his way to 145 runs from 163 balls.

In 2019 he scored 335no against the Pakistan side, breaking all manner of records in the process.

That was then and this is now. He is older, he looks more vulnerable. In the nets on Tuesday he struck two drives through the on side which would usually indicate a batsman has all his parts aligned, but Warner looked to Michael DiVenuto and appeared to indicate that he had no idea where that came from.

He looked good in the early going but the going is not being good to him.

He has always been something of a solo figure in the team. He drives the bus, he organises the golf day, he offers opinions, but the bowlers are a band, Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith are mirror images, David has always seemed somewhat separate.

He is part of the club but not the cliques.

What does he think when he sees Steve Smith picking up captaincy odd jobs when Pat Cummins is not available, and how does he feel when Josh Hazlewood gets to hold the steering wheel too?

It is not that they do not deserve it, but it is not hard to imagine you might resent them having what you are denied. Them embraced when you are banished.

There has been a sound in his voice since the appeal process was derailed by the commissioners insistence on public hearings and the examination of old wounds.

Australian cricket does a lot of that. Dog returning to its own …

The South Africans must be sitting up in Brisbane smiling smugly about the damage Australian cricket keeps inflicting on itself since the sandpaper scandal of early 2019.

Self harm appears to be the game’s specialty. Self harm and alienation.

There’s Justin Langer up in the Channel 7 box and his mates scattered across the game simmering, some quietly some not so, about his treatment.

There’s Tim Paine alienated and disappointed down in Hobart. They backed him then they abandoned him, just as they had with Langer.

And then there’s Warner, a man who has kept his head down, done the right thing and then gets this kick in the teeth.

Three great servants of Australian cricket who won’t be coming to Christmas any time soon.

Warner’s been a warrior for a long time and who could blame him if he were to wave a weary hand at the prospect of another battle and lay down his sword?