Australia face a near-impossible task in replacing David Warner’s all-round contribution as a cricketer after his SCG farewell.
And a couple of game-turning moments last week at the MCG should be given serious consideration when it comes to who opens in key series against India and then England over the next two Australian summers.
Forget the DRS and umpire criticism from Pakistan after a fantastic Boxing Day Test. It was Pakistan’s catching that let them down, to the point that it turned the match.
And this is the underrated, intangible aspect of David Warner’s game that for me, gives Cameron Bancroft, or Cameron Green as a smoky, the advantage as we look to Australia’s next opener.
I don’t want to pick on Abdullah Shafique because we all drop catches. I certainly did.
But when you drop Warner in the second over of the game and then Mitch Marsh at a crucial point in the second innings – from very simple chances, too – that costs you time, runs and ultimately a Test match that was decided by 79 runs.
Warner in full flight, a familiar sight. Credit: Getty
Warner has been one of the best fielders of his generation in an all-round sense. He’s been incredibly versatile, able to field from cover, to boundary riding and in the slips he’s been very reliable.
How a team fields has always been a fair reflection of how you’re performing. Right now, the best Test teams, Australia and India, are also the best fielding sides – just like the West Indies of the 1980s and Australia during the 1990s and 2000s.
Warner’s hundreds made headlines, but Australia will miss intangibles more
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03.01.2024
Australia face a near-impossible task in replacing David Warner’s all-round contribution as a cricketer after his SCG farewell.
And a couple of game-turning moments last week at the MCG should be given serious consideration when it comes to who opens in key series against India and then England over the next two Australian summers.
Forget the DRS and umpire criticism from........
© The Sydney Morning Herald
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