For several weeks,opponents could be granted the thought that soon they might be free of this meddlesome “Bull”,able to hit the best balls of most opening bowlers to the boundary,while allying a sharp eye to peerless levels of fitness.
It is true that Warner was out of luck in many ways:via theFox Cricket microphone on Boxing Day he remarked how a near miss for Dean Elgar,the ball dribbling centimetres from the stumps,would have been out if it were him.
But he was also weighed down by the ban process,and at the same time it was possible to wonder whether the freedom and aggressive intent of his very best innings had been chipped away by advancing years and the cumulative “grind” of so much Test cricket.
Certainly,his opening partner Usman Khawaja attested to feeling fresher from playing about half the number of Tests in roughly the same career span:both made their red-ball debuts for Australia in 2011.
But insightfully,and somewhat prophetically,Warner’s longtime batting mentor Trent Woodhill spoke up before Boxing Day to argue that the left-hander’s technical powers were not in decline.
“It’s a fine line. I[keep a close eye on] players in their first 20 balls in Tests,but I am not seeing anything wrong,” Woodhill said. “We know how much[Ricky] Ponting struggled at the back end,his footwork and eyesight,and we see how players go downhill. I am not seeing that with David.”