David Warner exits Test innings for the last time

There he goes. Off the field after the last Test innings. Trapped lbw until the halfway mark and lost in frustration, seemingly remembering why his 57-run innings was so much applauded than it normally would have been. To embrace them all. There he is later, that lovely post-combat moment on the field where the players outnumber the players, the little ones rolling on the turf or covering themselves in streamers, basking in the sunlight. David Warner chats with his young daughter between honoring each interview request, happy to say: retired, but never retired. Cricket, Australia v Pakistan 3rd Test Match View full scorecard

A lot of people will be happy to see him go. This attitude is much more prevalent than presented at the media festival of his last Test series. Few Australian players have been as disliked in their own country. But there were also crowds eager for the chance to applaud him by coming out to bat, which they had four opportunities throughout the day and session of the final match. Large parts of this audience forgave Warner, or at least they recognized that the moment was bigger and more distinct than a vague and lingering personal animosity. Cricket pakistan australia test match

His baggy green cap was missing and felt like a fitting way to start the week. From the beginning, David Warner had a great ability to become a story. Even before his national T20 debut in 2009 - an outlier from nowhere, a real smokey, the first since 1877 to play for Australia without a first-class match to his name. If Greg Chappell's youth policy had many failures, it boasted this singular success. It's hard to imagine another administrator having the audacity to push this kid – and two years later, on the 11th of that first-class match, to push that kid further into the Test team. India South Africa Test match Scorecard

Even before David Warner produced the kind of crash-bang-wallop knock of 180 against India in Perth, he had already proved his versatility and value, batting for 123 on Hobart's greentop. The second Test fell around him and New Zealand won by seven runs. He set up what should have been an Ashes win in Durham in 2013, scored centuries in two of the three live Tests in the return series and set up a series win in South Africa with a twin century in Cape Town that same summer. A special batting talent was growing up. India South Africa Test match

All the while it was accompanied by a distinct lack of talent: the verbal abuse, the on-field aggression, the walkabout brawls, the character flaws that some decried as much as celebrated until the end in Cape Town 2018. Can't be ruled out, though the morality around ball-tampering is odd in a sport that has always featured it, an offense firmly on the list of misdemeanors rather than high crimes. Those who still bring sandpaper to every mention of David Warner are clinging to something, unwilling to let go of the way their dislike of him has become part of their identity. Emotional David Warner braces for a perfect farewell

More than tampering, Warner was guilty of persuading an intelligent junior teammate to carry out the task without the smarts or panache to hide it. And again to deny knowledge when Cameron Bancroft faces the camera. Warner has yet to offer a candid public account, though praise for him in the past week has often cited his bluntness and honesty. Concealment is usually more than crime australia cricket news Cameron ,selectors to replace David Warner

But you can't define a career so full by a single piece. Not when 112 Test matches, 26 hundreds, 22 ODI tons ended with two World Cup wins, the T20 equivalent and a World Test Championship. Names with more international centuries make a short and illustrious roll-call: Lara, Jayawardene, Amla, Kallis, Sangakkara, Ponting, Kohli, Tendulkar. Three players have scored more runs in Tests: Cook, Gavaskar, G Smith. Opening in three international formats: Jayasuriya and Gayle. Australia cricket news, David Warner confirms his retirement from ODIs and Tests

Has played in every IPL season since 2009, except for one when he was dismissed, now third in that tournament's all-time runs list with 6,397. Since his debut he has probably played more top-flight cricket than anyone in the world, bar perhaps India's Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. No one else can fully appreciate the dedication that both physical and mental well-being requires while being out of the hotel and in the center of the spotlight.

For the man who was once a promising youngster, some old-fashioned Test cricket left. The pioneer of the T20 era, the epitome of the IPL, he is also the man who gave his all in the old style, barely missing Tests through injury, never absent for any other reason than two suspensions, and a second ban instead of being released for the T20 circuit, the new A determined comeback that saw him score a Test triple century in England in 2019 and win the Allan Border Medal for Australia's player of the year.

Test devotion is easy for Australian players, when match fees are 20 grand a pop and annual contracts can even buy you a house in Sydney. But it's still worth noting that throughout this storied career, nothing mattered to Warner more than the chance to play in the longest, toughest, most taxing format. The fact that his Baggy Green was lost behind the couch led to a nationwide search, again showing just how important this cricket is. He went on to clarify this in his retirement interview.

"The pinnacle of Australian cricket is ambitious to get this baggy green," he said in one. “I just want to give some advice to the youngsters out there. Keep your dreams, keep faith. This is the ultimate in cricket: Test match cricket. You want to play for it and strive for it."

It was Warner with his eye on bigger things, as well as one of the country's highest-profile players, having played the role of union shop steward in the 2017 industrial dispute, standing up for the women players and domestic players that Cricket Australia wanted. Cut out a revenue sharing deal. It was one of his most admirable moments, one his detractors are unlikely to remember or acknowledge.

In the end, facts won't matter because people form their opinions on vibes or anecdotes. Those who were close to David Warner or who encountered his good side will remember his good humor and kindness. Those who did not remember the genius of anger and rage. The point is, you're allowed to factor in all of this - all of the criticisms, all of the counterclaims - and still just enjoy what Warner the cricketer and Warner the persona have to offer to those watching. Australia vs Pakistan Second Test Match Scorecard

Among his more wholesome manifestations were his trouble-making streaks: blowing people off, exasperating opponents, feigning sincerity, teasing false stories in press conferences, all in the same breath as confirming his retirement from one-day cricket. Claimed that he will play the 2025 Champions Trophy. A lot can be read from Usman Khawaja's comments that his mother's childhood nickname for Warner was "Shaitan" in Urdu. Cricket News ind & Rsa Rabada Takes 5 Wickets First Day Against India

An on-field entertainer after all, he was: the man who flipped a ball into the roof hoardings of the Chinnaswamy Stadium during a World Cup match two months ago and did a back somersault, the opener who hit the bomb, who comforted a child in Walker's second level with a pair of batting gloves. wiped out before Dewar, who scored a century before lunch to open a Test match and became only the fifth to do so, is a switch-hitter, sometimes right-handed, with a kamikaze streak between the wickets or in the outfield, a player who despite borderline tragic public interest in his failure Returned to England in 2023 and instead helped set up two Ashes-ceiling victories for Australia.

The sum is an image full of chaos, clashing colors and strange figures, part Jackson Pollock, part-Bayex tapestry, part-LED drone show, and even if the effect of the whole gives you a migraine, there's no denying that there was artistry in its construction. Nor is the fact that some marginal panels aside, its creation is about to end. In the center remains a character in white, with absolutely no claim to the angel. For anyone who followed cricket, he was a part of our lives for 15 years. It means something, like admitting that complexity exists, and that binaries only work for computers. Some people find it easy to hate Warner and they'll tell you that, but for the rest of us it was impossible. Thanks Dave. It's been fun.