David Warner (cricketer)

thumb|David Warner David Andrew Warner (born 27 October 1986) is an Australian former international cricketer, captain of Big Bash League team Sydney Thunder and captain of Pakistan Super League team Karachi Kings. Quotes I can't pull him so I don't know how we're going to go about facing him'. He put me on my backside and I think he broke his shoulder as well that game. He's a fierce competitor who swung the ball back into the left-hander, which is similar to Mitchell Starc swinging the ball back into the right-hander at pace. He was always a fiery customer who never gave you a smile and never gave you an inch or a sniff on the field. In Zimbabwe (on an Australia A tour in 2011) I've got a memory of him when I was 40 not out at lunchtime and he comes up to me and goes, 'this innings will change your life if you score a hundred'. I went on to get 200 (211) and he told me, 'I told you so'. I look back at that and they're my fondest memories of how I started. I got given the opportunity to open in one-day cricket through Dom Thornely (with NSW) … out of nowhere after that Zimbabwe series, I'm opening the batting for NSW. From there, it's been quite surreal. I wouldn't have ever imagined opening the batting for NSW or anyone when I first started. But to be here after 112 Tests and coming out for the last time, I'm still pinching myself. It's easy for me to sit here and talk about playing for your country at Test level through T20 cricket. Fortunately in my development, I didn't have (various lucrative domestic leagues) there so I didn't have to make those decisions of going off and playing in those. For me, it was always about playing Test cricket for Australia. We're well remunerated as well with the central contracts, and that's the passion that you have growing up – to play red-ball cricket for Australia. Today, with so many different opportunities and a lot more money at stake for younger guys coming through, it's a tough decision to make. It'd be wrong of me to say that I would still be passionate to keep playing for Australia and have those ambitions because that's every kid in Australia's dream. It would be a very difficult decision to make if you're getting $100,000 thrown at you before you take a rookie contract. We've got a lot of talent, we've got a lot of depth, we've got a lot of players there that can fit into all three formats right now. There's always change, there's always retirements, there's always failures and people having to come in and of the team. We're in a good position in Australian cricket to have the next generation and the current players not (currently) selected to take over. I think through my career, I've surprised myself to play all three forms as well. It's been very difficult, especially having young children come along as well. It's definitely a tough thing for another person to come in and play three all three forms. It's going to be very difficult. But we've got the right people there to take over any three of those spots. There's going to be conversations behind the scenes to allow me to do that. Obviously I've joined the Fox commentary team next year during the Test series against India, which I'm looking forward to. There's a BBL window that we're able to play, and then quite clearly there has been a lot of talk about the ILT20 which will be starting, I'm pretty sure, after the BBL. So I would like to play that in and around the commentary stuff. I've just got to make sure that I'm, one, playing to the best of my ability and, two, not hindering the team's performances or upsetting the balance of the team. Someone who has gone out there and just given it his all. I've said this all along. A boy from a housing commission having a dream. I've not always fitted the mould, but I've been authentic and honest. 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. I just want to leave (a legacy) 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. It means I played a lot of cricket (laughs). A lot of training sessions. But you get those accolades if you play a lot of cricket and I think the most satisfying or pleasing thing for me is I've always been able to stay on the park. I've always trained behind closed doors a lot. That's the way I've always done it. I don't hit a lot often. And then when I do hit often for a long period of time it's more for my mind to take away from what's coming up. When I'm not in form, I tend to go to the golf course, walk four hours and reflect there on how I'm going to go about my business. That's why I'm a cricketer and not an admin (laughs). Look you'd like to score a hundred at every venue you play but for me it's going out there and just playing to the best of your ability and putting your team into a good position. Partnership batting is one thing I think is missed in the game of cricket. We do have a lot of self-accolades, but I think in the stats, the partnerships really tell the right story of a lot of cricket games. If you look at Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon (to help Australia win by two wickets at Edgbaston last year), in one-day cricket as well 'Maxi' and 'Cummo' (Glenn Maxwell and Pat Cummins' unbeaten 202-run eighth-wicket stand to beat Afghanistan during the World Cup last year). They're key partnerships and that's how I've seen it. I don't really have any wishes that I could have done anything different because I've given it my best. It has actually become more emotional. When I looked at Lord's as a potential finish, I didn't really have many emotions because I was content. I might not have been scoring runs, but I still had the desire to play Test cricket. I love the game of cricket, it doesn't matter what format I'm playing. But definitely it's been emotional since Perth, since I've been back in Australia and knowing that I'm playing (my final Test summer). Getting that 160, putting us into a great position, it hit home when people in the streets were coming up and saying, 'well done, we support you, we back you'. It really means a lot. The emotions probably started then. I thank all the supporters and the fans out there, because they're the key shareholders in the game. Without them we don't get to play the game that we love. We don't get to entertain – and we're in the entertainment business. That really, really means a lot to all of us. When I left Africa, the first five or six people that came up to me were priests and gave me a card. Then we went on a holiday to Singapore after that and there was a big church convention. I then sat back and spoke to Candice, and said someone is clearly watching down upon us. I just grew strength from there to go back, play grade cricket, get a sense of that cricket community back – the canteen ladies, people who run the drinks out, taking on and off the covers – it was a sense of something I sort of got disconnected with. I think a lot of us do because we are in that bubble but when you go back and see the real people who are really, really working hard, which we did as young kids, that's what I reflect most upon. If I can keep continuing to make sure that people understand where you come from and how you got to where you are, that's going to be very important. That's a lesson that I learned. Then spending time at home with the kids, that was unbelievable. I actually really enjoyed that. I spent a lot of time with my wife. We are sort of disconnected in a way when we travel a lot. Reflecting back on that whole period, my whole career, I've got no regrets because you are going to have a lot of hurdles you are going to have to jump. There's going to be obstacles in the way, but you have to move forward and I've done that with dignity. I've got a lot of passion for the game and it was important from my perspective that I'm giving back, making sure that I gained the respect back but making sure I'm putting Australian cricket first. I want every young kid who wants to play cricket to dream of playing for Australia and that's what was really important for me when I came back. There's two types of likes and dislikes. There's ones that hides behind the keyboard and there's ones in real life who sit down with you, have a beer and get to know you, they are the real people who actually support you. I've had a few of them, where I've called people out and had a beer with them and they've changed their opinion totally. That goes back probably five, six years ago. But what you see is what you get. I'm very honest, I'm open, always happy to have a beer with anyone that has a disagreement (with me) in public. If you don't like what you see on TV, reach out I'll have a beer with you. That's open to anyone (laughs). Hundreds, Hughes, hard lessons: Warner's farewell interview,January 2024,Cricket. Com.au by Writer External links Category:Living people Category:1986 births Category:Cricketers from Australia