David Warner, the pugnacious left-hander has been an enigma around cricketing circles. He made his debut as a basher, a real tonker of the cricket ball, and had the ability to stamp his authority all over a cricket match within a matter of overs. His career has followed a strange path, as he was brought into International cricket bereft of any first class experience. Warner smashed into the limelight against South Africa in his debut T20 match and has never looked back ever since.
He has established himself as one of the most prolific openers in world cricket across all three formats and when on song he can be almost impossible to bowl at. His growth as a player and as a leader can be gauged from the fact that he has been appointed vice-captain of the team and people in and around Australian cricket believe that he has the panache to lead the team in the future.
Here in this list, we take a look at 5 reasons why David Warner becomes impossible to bowl at when on song.
#1 Ability to pick up the length of the ball
One of the key criterions to effective batting is the ability to decipher the length of the ball and then react accordingly. Batsmen who have been successful in the past had this gift of judging the length perfectly which then aided them in their stroke play.
David Warner too falls in this category. When in full flight, he has the ability to pick up the length of the ball and then go for his strokes accordingly. He takes the defensive or aggressive route depending upon which length he believes is in his arc and zone. This uncanny trait has become a real nuisance for bowlers all around.
#2 Ability to watch the ball right from the point of release
This point is basically an extrapolation of the previous point. In order to judge the length of the ball, the batsman should focus on the point of release of the ball. He has to watch the bowler closely and concentrate on the wrist and position of release.
For instance, if the ball is released earlier the ball will be fuller, and this should dictate the footwork of the batsman. Warner wins half the battle here as he is like a hawk watching the ball very closely. His eyes are transfixed on the bowler, and then his footwork takes over.
#3 Ability to impose himself on the opposition bowlers
Warner has always had the strokes to impose his belligerence on the opposition bowlers. Right from his T20 debut, he was never afraid of playing high-risk cricket strokes to make an early statement, and he has taken this approach to Test cricket too.
If there is a wayward ball he will put it away without bothering about the situation of the game. This puts the bowlers under a lot of pressure as they are well aware of the fact that if they stray even a touch they will be put to the sword. This ability to get into the bowler's mind is a special attribute to have and Warner exudes this.
Very often his rapid starts at the top of the order has set the game perfectly for his team, and the other batters feel at ease and they can then play their own game.
#4 Nifty footwork and unorthodoxy
For long Australian batsmen were branded as poor players of spin bowling. Not Warner, as he uses his feet to great effect to negate the spinners. He is committed to his strokes and never dies wandering when at the crease.
This ability to use the crease after picking up the lengths makes him an almost impossible target to bowl at as has the skill to either come right forward on the front foot or rock back and use the depth of the crease. This allows him to play his strokes with conviction and yield maximum runs out of these strokes.
Apart from this he also has the unorthodox strokes at his disposal, which includes the reverse hit and the switch hit. This makes life very miserable for the opposition bowlers and captain.
#5 A massive hitter of the ball
Apart from the all the aforementioned virtues, Warner is a massive hitter of the cricket ball and when he decides to go, no boundary is too big to contain him. This ability has made him an out and out match winner in the Limited Overs Format.
Even in Test cricket, this ability to hit the ball as and when he pleases creates big headaches for the opposition captains as they are rendered helpless with respect to their field placements. This also allows him to manoeuvre the fields accordingly as the field is generally pushed deeper to negate his stroke play. He then responds by dinking the ball to the vacant areas and can easily keep the scoreboard ticking over.
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