David Warner (cricketer)


David Andrew Warner is an Australian international cricketer and a former captain of the Australian national team. A left-handed opening batsman, Warner is the first Australian cricketer in 132 years to be selected for a national team in any format without experience in first-class cricket. He plays for New South Wales and the Sydney Thunder in domestic cricket. He served as the Australian vice-captain across Test and ODI formats of the game between 2015 and 2018.
In January 2017, he became the fourth player to win the Allan Border Medal more than once and also win the award in consecutive years.
On 28 September 2017, he played in his 100th ODI and became the first batsman for Australia and 8th batsman overall to score a century in his 100th ODI.
In March 2018, following a preliminary investigation into ball tampering by the Australian team in the third match of their Test series against South Africa, he was suspended, charged with bringing the game into disrepute. Following a board meeting on 28 March 2018, Cricket Australia banned Warner from all international and domestic cricket in Australia for one year, and from any leadership positions permanently.
In November 2019, Warner scored the second-highest individual score for any Australian Test batsman with 335 not out against Pakistan.

Early life

David Warner was born on 27 October 1986 in Paddington, a suburb in eastern Sydney. At the age of 13 he was asked by his coach to switch to right-handed batting because he kept hitting the ball in the air. However his mother, Sheila Warner, encouraged him to return to batting left-handed and he broke the under-16's run-scoring record for the Sydney Coastal Cricket Club. He then made his first grade debut for the Eastern Suburbs club at the age of 15 and later toured Sri Lanka with the Australian under-19s and earned a rookie contract with the state team. Warner attended Matraville Public School and Randwick Boys High School.

Domestic career

On 29 November 2008, Warner hit his first domestic One Day century for New South Wales with a score of 165* against Tasmania at Hurstville Oval in Sydney. This knock got him the record of the highest one day score by a Blues player. In the reverse fixture at Hobart, he backed it up with a 54-ball 97 to narrowly miss the record for the fastest ever century in Australian domestic cricket.
Warner made his first-class debut playing for New South Wales against Western Australia in the final match of the 2008–09 Sheffield Shield season at the Sydney Cricket Ground on 5–8 March 2009. Batting only once and coming in at number six in the batting order, Warner scored 42 runs off 48 deliveries.
While playing for New South Wales, Warner broke the record for the highest Australian one-day domestic score. His score of 197 came off just 141 balls and included 20 fours and 10 sixes, surpassing Jimmy Maher's previous record of 187.

KFC Big Bash and Big Bash League

Warner made a record in KFC Twenty20 Big Bash by completing his half century in 18 balls against Tasmania. The earlier record was held by George Bailey, who completed his half century in 19 balls.
In the first season of the newly re-vamped Big Bash League, Warner was named as captain for the Sydney Thunder and in his first match for the Thunder scored 102 not out off just 51 balls with a strike rate of 200 runs per 100 balls. Warner played for Sydney Sixers in 2012–13 season.

English County Cricket 2009

Warner has played for English County Champions Durham for the English cricket domestic season.

Indian Premier League

Warner has been one of the most successful batsmen in the Indian Premier League. He has represented the Sunrisers Hyderabad, and played a pivotal role at the top of the order. He holds the records for the most runs by an overseas player, most half-centuries and the highest individual score by a captain in the IPL. He has won the Orange Cap three times, more than any other player.

2009–2013

Warner was signed by IPL team Delhi Daredevils for 2009–10 seasons. During the 2009 tournament which was played in South Africa, Warner played seven games, scoring 163 runs at an average of 23.28 and with a strike-rate of 123.48. His top score was 51.
On 7 October 2011, Warner became the first cricketer to score consecutive Twenty20 hundreds, when he followed up an unbeaten 135 against Chennai Super Kings with an unbeaten 123 against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Both matches were in the Champions League.

2014–2018

Following the 2014 IPL auction, he was contracted by Sunrisers Hyderabad for US$880,000. In 2015, he was appointed captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad. Warner ended the season as the tournament's leading run scorer, rewarding him with the Orange cap, although SRH narrowly missed out on reaching the knock-out phase.
He was chosen to continue leading the team for a second season in 2016, in which he led the team to its first championship with 69 runs off 38 balls in the final against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Warner finished the season with 848 runs, the second highest in the tournament.
In 2017, Warner scored 126 runs against the Kolkata Knight Riders to break his previous career high of 109*. This also marked his third century in the IPL. He finished the season as the leading run scorer, and was awarded with the Orange cap for the second time. He finished the season with 641 runs and at an average of 58.27.
For the 2018 IPL season, Warner was retained and appointed captain by Sunrisers Hyderabad, but he stepped down as captain following the events of ball tampering in South Africa. The BCCI later announced that Warner would not be allowed to play in the 2018 IPL season.

2019–present

For the 2019 IPL season, Warner returned to Sunrisers Hyderabad. In his first match after the one-year ban he scored 85 runs off 53 balls against Kolkata Knight Riders but ended up on the losing side. Two days later, Warner scored 100* runs off 55 balls against Royal Challengers Bangalore in a 118 run victory which was his fourth IPL century. He finished the season as the leading run scorer with 692 runs at an average of 69.20, and was awarded with the Orange Cap for the third time. He left the team early after playing 12 matches due to Australia's World Cup preparations.
On 27 February 2020, Warner was reinstated as captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad replacing Kane Williamson.

Other T20 franchise cricket

He contracted with Sylhet Sixers for the 2019 edition of Bangladesh Premier League. On 3 June 2018, he was selected to play for the Winnipeg Hawks in the players' draft for the inaugural edition of the Global T20 Canada tournament, then on 5 July 2018 it was announced that he would be the captain to replace Dwayne Bravo due to injury.

International career

Debut years

Warner made his international debut for Australia in a Twenty20 International against South Africa at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 11 January 2009. Warner was the first man since 1877 to represent Australia without having played in a first-class match. He made an immediate impact, scoring 89 off 43 balls with 7 fours and 6 sixes, including the then second-fastest fifty in Twenty20 International history. His 89 was the second highest score on Twenty20 international debut; and the equal fifth highest score ever in Twenty20 internationals.
He made his Test debut on 1 December 2011 against New Zealand at Brisbane, Queensland in the first Test of the Trans-Tasman Trophy due to an injury to Shane Watson. He made three runs in the first innings. In the second innings he scored 12 not out off four balls, scoring the winning runs with a pull shot through mid on.
On 23 February 2010, playing a Twenty20 international against the West Indies at the Sydney Cricket Ground, he made 67 off just 29 balls. His 50 came in just 18 balls, breaking his old record of 19 and it became the second fastest 50 in Twenty20 International history after Yuvraj Singh.

Start of good form

Warner scored his maiden Test century on 12 December 2011 in Australia's unsuccessful run chase against New Zealand in Hobart. Warner made 123* in his side's second innings total of 233. In doing so he became just the sixth person to carry his bat through the fourth innings of a Test match. Warner bowls right arm leg-break and on his first delivery in Test match Cricket, the ball was dropped in the outfield denying Warner a maiden Test match wicket.
On 13 January 2012, in only his fifth Test match, Warner scored a 69-ball century against India at the WACA. At the time, this equalled West Indian Shivnarine Chanderpaul for the fourth fastest Test century of all time, in terms of balls faced. He ultimately built his innings to a score of 180 from 159 balls, setting a new personal high score in Test cricket.
Warner scored 163 off 157 balls at the Gabba on 4 March 2012 in the first final of the CB Series against Sri Lanka. He batted until the last ball of the innings. It was his first ODI hundred for Australia. He followed it up with 100 and 48 in the other two finals at the Adelaide Oval. Warner's aggregate of 311 runs was the highest ever for the finals of an Australian Tri-Series, surpassing Greg Chappell's 266 runs in 1981.
During the 2015 Cricket World Cup, Warner started the World Cup decently by scoring 22 against England and 34 against New Zealand. But in their fourth match against Afghanistan, he scored 178 runs off 133 balls, which became his highest score in ODIs, helped Australia to score the highest team total in any World Cup and the highest in Australia. Warner ended up as the tournament's 11th highest scorer, scoring 345 runs at an average of 49.28.
Warner was one of Australia's better players during the 2015 Ashes in which Australia lost 3–2. Despite not registering a century, Warner scored 418 runs during the series, the fourth highest run-scorer behind Steve Smith, Chris Rogers and Joe Root. During the one-day series in England, bowler Steve Finn hit Warner's thumb, breaking it. This meant Warner took no part in the rest of the series and the scheduled series to Bangladesh which did not take place due to security issues.
In 2016, Warner had a reversal of form, scoring more runs in ODIs than Tests. Nevertheless, he still scored his 5,000th Test run and 3,000th home Test run against Pakistan on 28 December 2016.

Records and achievements

Warner was the first Australian cricketer in 132 years to be selected for a national team in any format without experience in first-class cricket. He is the fourth player to win the Allan Border Medal more than once and also win the award in consecutive years. He is the first Australian batsman to score 7 ODI centuries in a calendar year.
Warner and Shane Watson have been the most successful opening pair in T20I history with 1108 runs. They are also the only opening pairs to have scored over 1000 runs in T20Is. Both Warner and Watson as pairs scored 1154 runs in T20I history, the most by any pair in T20I history. Warner is the first Australian and sixth overall to reach 1,500 T20I runs.
Warner also became the first batsman to ever score three centuries at The WACA, with his top 2 scores in Tests both achieved in the same stadium. His top score of 253 was also the second-highest individual score to be surpassed by an opposition batsman in the same Test match, which was surpassed during Ross Taylor's knock of 290.
On 7 November 2015, Warner became only the third batsman in history of Test cricket to score centuries in both innings of a Test match thrice, after Sunil Gavaskar and Ricky Ponting. In the very next Test match against New Zealand, he scored his maiden Test double century at the WACA, Perth, his fourth consecutive century against New Zealand.
In that same match, Warner also became the second opener in Test cricket history, after India's Sunil Gavaskar, to score three consecutive Test hundreds twice in his career, and the only Australian since Adam Gilchrist to score three consecutive hundreds, while completing his 4,000 Test career runs as the 4th fastest Aussie batsman, the top three being the legendary Don Bradman, Matthew Hayden and Neil Harvey respectively.
On 3 January 2017, while playing against Pakistan at the Sydney Cricket Ground, he became only the fifth cricketer to score a century before lunch on the first day of a Test match, after Victor Trumper, Charlie Macartney, Don Bradman and Majid Khan. Of the five, he was the first to do so in Australia.
In Australia's second innings, with the team in need of quick runs, Warner clobbered a half century in a rapid 23 deliveries, making it the second fastest Test fifty of all time and the fastest by an Australian in the format. In the scheduled five ODIs against Pakistan, Warner progressed in a slow start but made two centuries in the final two ODIs at Sydney and Adelaide. At the 2017 Allan Border Awards, he was awarded Australia's ODI Player of the year and the elusive AB Medal.
His two centuries made him man of the series and in the following days, he ascended to the top of the ICC ODI Player Batting Rankings – marking his ascent to the top of ODI rankings his first.
He was later rested for the Chappell–Hadlee Trophy series in New Zealand, joining the second group of players in Dubai in preparation for a four-test series in India.
On 6 September 2017, while playing against Bangladesh at the Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong, he became the sixth Australian player to score back-to-back test hundreds in Asia after Allan Border, Bob Simpson, Damien Martyn, Michael Hussey and Michael Clarke.
On 28 September 2017 he played in his 100th ODI and became the first batsman for Australia and 8th batsman overall to score a century in his 100th ODI after Gordon Greenidge, Chris Cairns, Mohammad Yousuf, Kumar Sangakkara, Chris Gayle, Marcus Trescothick and Ramnaresh Sarwan. On 27 December 2017, Warner scored a century in MCG during 2017–18 Ashes series, and on 5 January 2018, his 3rd consecutive half-century in the SCG. On 27 October 2019, he scored his maiden T20I century, becoming the third Aussie to score centuries in all three formats of the game.
On 30 November 2019, Warner became the first batsman to score a triple century at Adelaide Oval with a score of 335* against Pakistan. He was the seventh Australian batsman to score a triple century, and the fourth to do so at an Australian ground. This score saw Warner surpass Sir Donald Bradman and Mark Taylor to hold the second highest Test score by an Australian batsman, behind only Matthew Hayden.

International captaincy

When regular captain Steve Smith was rested for the end of the 2016 ODI series against Sri Lanka, Warner led the team for rest of the tour. In the fifth ODI at Pallekele, Warner scored the first century by an Australian batsmen in Sri Lanka in an ODI. Australia won all five matches he captained, won the ODI series 4–1 and the T20I series 2–0.
He again deputised as captain for the 2017–18 Trans-Tasman Tri-Series, with Australia winning the competition.

Ball-tampering incident and suspension

On the morning of 25 March 2018, during the same match, Smith and Warner were forced to step down as captain and vice-captain of the Australian team, but still took to the field, after the ICC found Smith guilty of being "party to a decision to attempt to change the condition of the ball". The day before, opening batsman Cameron Bancroft was seen using yellow sandpaper for ball tampering during South Africa's second innings. Smith had admitted that the "leadership group" had discussed ball tampering during the lunch break, but did not name those involved.
Cricket Australia launched a separate investigation into the incident as a matter of urgency, led by Executive general manager Team Performance Pat Howard, along with Senior Legal Counsel and Head of Integrity Iain Roy. Their interviews of players and support staff began on 26 March 2018. CA CEO James Sutherland joined the investigators in South Africa. On 27 March 2018, before the findings of that investigation were handed down, specialist opening batter Matt Renshaw was urgently recalled to the squad from Australia for the Fourth Test. The combination of Bancroft and Warner have opened the batting for the team since the 2017–18 Ashes series.
On 27 March 2018, Sutherland announced that as a result of the preliminary investigation Smith, Warner and Bancroft had been charged with bringing the game into disrepute, suspended and sent home. He said that further sanctions against the trio would be announced within 24 hours. He added that as well as Renshaw, Joe Burns and Glenn Maxwell had been recalled to the squad for the Fourth Test to replace them. While he also announced that Tim Paine had been appointed as the captain for the upcoming Fourth Test, there was no announcement as to who would fill Warner's previous role as vice-captain. The Cricket Australia board convened on 28 March 2018 to determine the sanctions to be imposed on Smith, Warner and Bancroft. Warner was found to be responsible for the development of the plan to alter the condition of the ball and instructing Bancroft on how to do it, including demonstrating the technique to him. He was also found to have misled match officials by concealing his knowledge of the plan and not voluntarily reporting his involvement. As a result, Warner was banned from playing international and Australian domestic cricket for 1 year, must perform 100 hours of community service, and was permanently banned from leadership positions.
At the same time, Warner's contract with personal sponsor LG Electronics was due for renewal. On 28 March 2018, they announced that they had decided not to continue their commercial relationship with him in light of the recent controversial events and dropped him as the brand ambassador of the LG Electronic Company. Later that day, Warner's contract with Asics was terminated, they announced that it was a result of the last weekends events in Cape Town and following the sanctions made by Cricket Australia.
On 28 March 2018, it was announced by a team executive that Warner had stood down from the captaincy of his IPL team, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and after the Cricket Australia sanctions announced, Warner was banned from the 2018 IPL. Warner broke his silence by posting on Twitter on 29 March. He apologised for his part in the incident, and took responsibility for it. He said that he would spend some time with his family, friends and trusted advisers, and would make another statement in the coming days.
In April 2018, Surrey head coach and former Australian cricketer Michael Di Venuto stated that he would be open to David Warner and Steven Smith playing for his county team.

Return to international cricket

In April 2019, he was named in Australia's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. After missing 2018–19 season, Warner was awarded a national contract by Cricket Australia for the 2019–20 season. On 1 June 2019, Warner played in Australia's opening match of the Cricket World Cup, against Afghanistan, at the County Ground in Bristol and was awarded player of the match for scoring 89 not out off 114 balls.
He was also named player of the match in Australia's third match against Pakistan. Here he made 107, his first century on returning to international cricket. On 20 June 2019, in the match against Bangladesh, Warner scored 166 runs, becoming the first batsman to score two 150+ scores in the Cricket World Cup. Nine days later, in the match against New Zealand, Warner scored his 13,000th run in international cricket. He finished the tournament as the leading run-scorer for Australia and with 647 runs in ten matches, he also finished as the second highest run-scorer in the entire tournament behind Rohit Sharma.
In July 2019, he was named in Australia's squad for the 2019 Ashes series in England. However, he had a poor series, scoring only 95 runs over 10 innings at an average of 9.5. His only score of note was 61 at Headingley, that being his only score above 50, whilst he made a pair at Old Trafford and was dismissed seven times by Stuart Broad during the series.
On 27 October 2019, in the first T20I match against Sri Lanka, Warner scored his first century in T20I cricket, from just 56 balls. He continued his good form with an unbeaten 60 in the second T20I and 57 in the third. He scored a total of 217 runs and was awarded the player of the series. On 30 November 2019, Warner scored his maiden Test Triple century, scoring 335 not out against Pakistan, which is the second-highest individual score for an Australian Test batsman behind Matthew Hayden's 380 and also saw Warner surpassing the record of Azhar Ali's 302 to register the highest ever individual score in an innings of a day/night test match. He also became the second batsman to score a triple century in a pink ball test.
On 14 January 2020, in the first ODI match against India, Warner completed his 5000 runs in One Day Internationals becoming the fastest Australian and fourth fastest batsman in the world to reach this milestone. On 16 July 2020, Warner was named in a 26-man preliminary squad of players to begin training ahead of a possible tour to England following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Playing style

Warner is known for his aggressive left-handed batting style favouring the aerial route and for his ability to switch hit, using the back of his bat or by taking a right-handed stance. He prefers to score on his off side, and has a very high strike rate as a Test batsman. In all of his Test centuries, he had never had a strike rate of below 52.5, and only 3 of below 72.
He is an athletic fielder and also a part-time spin bowler. His bowling style is rare in that he mixes medium-pace bowling with his more usual leg spin bowling. At just 170 cm in stature Warner generates his batting power from strong forearms and his low centre of gravity allows him to get underneath deliveries and hit them high in the air. In a Twenty20 match for New South Wales in 2009, he hooked a six off Shaun Tait that landed on the roof of the Adelaide Oval, only a month after hooking the same bowler 20 rows back at the SCG.

Controversies

Former New Zealand captain Martin Crowe has called for a yellow-card and red-card system to be introduced to international cricket to curb Warner's "thuggish" on-field behaviour, stating that Warner was "the most juvenile cricketer I have seen on a cricket field".
On 12 June 2013, Warner was dropped for Australia's second match in 2013 ICC Champions Trophy match against New Zealand following an attack on Joe Root. The event happened hours after Saturday's loss to England at Edgbaston. According to the sports journalist Pat Murphy, the incident took place at 2 am at the Walkabout bar in the centre of Birmingham, UK. On 13 June 2013, Cricket Australia announced that Warner was to be fined £7,000 and would not play for his country until the first Ashes Test on 10 July 2013. Warner subsequently missed the rest of the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy and the tour matches against Somerset and Worcestershire.
Warner attracted further controversy soon after. On 27 July 2013, whilst playing for Australia A against South Africa A in Pretoria he was involved in an on-field altercation with South Africa A wicket-keeper Thami Tsolekile. This was deemed serious enough for the umpires to step in twice; however, no formal complaints were made and Warner tweeted later in the day describing it as "friendly banter". Despite this, writers called into question his return to the Australia squad for the third Ashes Test against England, which seemed likely after scoring 193 in the first innings of this match. He was eventually recalled.
On 4 March 2018, during tea in the 1st Test in Durban, Warner was involved in an altercation with South African Wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock. De Kock had allegedly made a vulgar comment about Warner's wife Candice. Warner fired back at De Kock and was forced to be restrained by teammates Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith. Warner was charged with a Level 2 Offence and bringing the game to disrepute by the International Cricket Council and was given three demerit points and was fined 75% of his match fee.
On 22 March 2018, after being dismissed in the first innings of the Third Test of that series held in Cape Town, Warner responded to baiting from a spectator which escalated into an unsavoury heated exchange as he walked to the dressing room. The spectator was subsequently ejected from the ground.

International centuries

, Warner has scored 24 Test centuries, 18 ODI centuries and one T20I century.

Awards

Warner married Australian ironwoman Candice Falzon in April 2015. They have three daughters. Warner was named Australian Sports Dad of the Year in 2016. Warner, one among ten nominees for the award, got to choose a charity to which $10,000 would be donated. Warner lives in Sydney.