Warner

OK folks Footy is over and the Ashes came and went without a blip here.

But an enthralling series it was, with some real highlights - Smith (a lone beacon) and Stokes (2 Herculian efforts during the summer), and some very fine bowling from Cummins and Broad.

Happily we managed to square the series at least, but probably should have won it. At least the Ashes (in spirit anyway) remain in the Southern Hemisphere.

The series basically showed we have only 1 truly world class batsman who must now be regarded as arguably second to Bradman. I have been doing some stats research and Smith has the second highest average of all time and the second highest conversion rate to at least 50 runs per innings. Who knows where this will end up as he still has probably another 5 years at the top of the cricket world stage.

Encouraging was the temperament and sustained concentration of Labushayne. Hopefully he can kick on here this summer.

Then Wade showed a few positive signs with a couple of tons in between some other uninspiring innings.

But that is about it as far as the batting is concerned. It shows we are pretty thin at the crease at present and without Smith we would have been a goner.

The bowling certainly did contribute well to the overall result and Cummins rise in value continues and I can foresee a captain in the making. Hazelwood was good for the most part and Lyon solid. The other played their roles and you probably can't complain about our bowling stocks at present. We just need them to stay healthy!

Which brings me to the topic heading here.

Warner is a man bereft of confidence completely. He has been utterly gutted in terms of how to go out there and graft an innings for any length of time. Broad exposed him like few have done to any batsman over time.
I think he would struggle to make runs in Kensington's C grade at the moment.

How he can be backed in by Langer for this summer is beyond me. Yes you can have credits in the bank, but after Sandpaper-gate, I think he would have used all of those. He has had 10 goes at it during the English summer and passed 50 once. So in 9 other innings coming at an average in the vicinity of 6, surely that warrants looking elsewhere for an opener.

The trouble is who is knocking the door down to replace him? Not too many.

I would be looking very closely at the early season form of Renshaw, Burns and others to see if they can offer enough to be reinstated in the test side. All other opening oossibilities (Bancroft, Harris, Khuwaja) don't thrill me much.

However, the syndrome continues with Australian batsmen (sans Simth and possibly Labushayne) failing to understand the English conditions. Because the decks look so friendly for all recent series in England, the majority of our batsmen don't seem to grasp seeming, swinging pitches that generally lack the bounce we have here.
This series they seemed a bit quicker and bouncier, and whether that has anything to do with hotter than usual climatic patters in Europe lately, I don't know. But we still struggle with grinding out an innings patiently.

Stokes performance at Headingly was a masterclass in how to do this. Yes he should have been out at least 3 times to fairly regulation dismissals that we fluffed, but how he went about it is a lesson to all cricketers.

So back to Warner, would any readers here have him in the test side this summer?

For mine, he would need to make a mountain of runs in club and Shield cricket to get a look at it again.

I reckon they will give him the first couple of tests. He proved hopeless against Broad bowling around with a Duke's ball. Not sure if this summer's bowlers will get the same movement with a Kookaburra which is probably what the selectors think.

Still, the onus is on Warner to make runs, he cannot afford to fail again. There is a spot available for an opener who starts the season with lots of runs, possibly two spots unless Warner finds form. At this point I would start with Burns opening with Warner.

Horses for courses

VERY LIKELY
David Warner is a star on Australian pitches , and far less dominant overseas
He is the 2nd batsman picked in my opinion for Australian test matches at home
Theres no doubt he will be selected

OR
He will be 33 years old later this month
Perhaps he has surpassed his peak ?

As an aside
I was watching a SA V NSW 2nd eleven game at Adelaide number 2 oval awhile ago
Terry Jenner was there to see his protege Callum Bailey bowling
Terry Jenner , the spin doctor, is most famously remembered for coaching Shane Warne , and for bowling to me in a net session when I was precocious high school talent ....

Terry and I often chatted , and I was keen to add anything I could about Bailey
I didnt say a word when a little left hander from NSW kept belting him for maximums
I asked the scorers who the powerhouse batter was, they informed me that it was David Warner

David Warner's start in the SS 2019-2020
125[221]
0 [1]

This means the next time he plays for NSW he is on his own personal hat trick

I guess Warner's recent form has vindicated him somewhat and kept the knives at bay.

At least he is playing with some confidence now and that was probably his biggest nemesis in England. The more Broad got into his head the more he looked broken.

I will watch with interest how this latent form translates into the tests.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

This thread seems a little redundant now doesn't it?

And the irony of it is that Warner is 5th on the batting rankings with his nemesis Stuart Broad languishing down in 15th spot on the bowling rankings at the moment.

And Kohli must be having some purple patch to push Steve Smith from top spot too.

If David Warner gets to 11 not out against NZ he will be averaging 500 in Test matches this Australian International summer