David Warner: The transformation of a reckless stroke player to a mature batsman

The Aussies are back on the winning track, and the recent victories have been very comprehensive for them. From the 381 run win in the first ashes test to the 281 run win in the 5th ashes test, the Australian Cricket Team has shown a lot of consistency and character. But, this success wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible performances by some players like Mitchell Johnson, Brad Haddin, etc. The name that stands out in the top performers of the batting department for the Aussies is David Warner. Warner had a terrible last year, when he failed to score consistently against the Indians in India, leading to a 4-0 loss for the Aussies. His performance against England in England during the Ashes was equally poor, and a 3-0 loss for the Aussies made sure that they had a lot of work to do before the English Cricket Team comes to Australia for another Ashes series later that year.

It was during this phase of August’13 to December’13, when the transformation of David Warner took place. Though Warner’s natural game is an attacking one, and he always tends to keep the scoreboard ticking with frequent boundaries, he realised that he needs to step up as the opener of the Australian side, and mature as a batsman. The fact that there were players like Ed Cowan in the race for the slot of the opening batsman made Warner train hard for claiming that top spot in the batting line-up permanently.

And then, the much awaited Ashes Series started in Australia, during the end of 2013. The first test showed some ruthless bowling performance by Johnson. But, all eyes were on the opener, Warner. And, he didn’t disappoint. By scoring a 49 and a 124 in the whole match, Warner started a wonderful journey that is still going on for him. With a return to the form that has proved to be a career-saving one for him, Warner thrashed the English side throughout the Ashes series, and amassed 523 runs during the 5 test matches, and raced to the top of the charts for the leading run scorers of the series. After making an impact through 2 fifties and 2 hundreds, Warner’s hunger for runs didn’t stop in Australia.

The next series for the Aussies was against the world champions- South Africa. This was a real test of the dominance of the Australian Team, as this series was being played on the South African soil. The Australian Team started the tour by registering a huge win of 281 runs over the champs. Australia went on to win the 3 match series by a margin of 2-1. Playing 6 innings during the series, Warner showed his consistency by scoring 50+ scores 5 consecutive times, with 3 of them being converted into big hundreds. Warner scored a hundred in each of the innings of the last test match, thereby claiming the top spot on the board of leading run scorers for the series.

The 543 runs scored by him during the series against South Africa, made the statement that he has transformed from an immature, careless player to a responsible and a mature opening batsman for the Aussies. With 8 test hundreds to his name and 5 of them coming in the last 4 months, Warner has assured everyone that the opening spot is not a worrying topic for the Australian Side anymore. He has cemented his place in the Australian side, and the expectations have started to rise from the batsman from New South Wales. With the level of maturity he has started displaying, the Australian Cricket Team is surely going to regain their dominance in the World of Cricket.