Bull on parade: Inside the rise of David Warner

"The bull never sleeps – he's always coming at you" – David Warner

True to the impressive array of wildlife the country has to offer, there was something of an animal theme emerging during Australia A's tour of Zimbabwe in July 2011. While the 'GOAT' nickname for young groundsman-turned-tweaker Nathan Lyon was still many years from materialising, a couple of other monikers within the camp were being created or consolidated.

Jason Gillespie, who was coaching domestically in Zimbabwe at the time, was responsible for one.

"We were heading up to Kwekwe, and 'Dizzy' (Gillespie) was on the bus with us," remembers then Australia A head coach Troy Cooley. "As Mitch Marsh gets on, he says, 'Bison!'

"He'd been watching the bison on the National Geographic channel, and he'd learned that a bison's head weighed about 200 kilos, which he thought was about the same as Mitch Marsh's head."

Higher up the batting order, a diminutive left-hander named David Warner was taking on the characteristics of the 'Bull' nickname that had been bestowed upon him by his New South Wales teammate Daniel Smith.

"He had just adopted this persona of being 'the Bull', and that really started to develop through that series," recalls former teammate Callum Ferguson, who shared a couple of sizeable partnerships with Warner across the one, two and four-day matches in Harare.

"There might have been a hint of it leading in, but certainly during that tour, it really became this thing. It really started to grow legs on and off the park. It was something else to watch, it really was."

When he wasn't trying his luck at the hotel casino alongside Aaron Finch, Warner was adding energy and personality to an 18-man squad that would ultimately produce 17 Test players.

He was also piling on the runs. In eight matches on tour, against red ball and white, he topped the scorers with 666, including three hundreds. What Ferguson remembers most vividly though is his presence at the crease. Warner had become 'the Bull'.

"He was taking on all comers and he really embraced that nickname," he continues. "He was encapsulating it with his body language and his domineering style, and he really started to cement it as a mantra almost.

"He joked about it, like, 'the Bull never sleeps – he's always coming at you'.

"He's obviously not a huge man in stature but his personality and the way he was carrying himself out there, he was owning the crease."

A decade on, this personification of the Bull (he had even scrawled "the Bull never sleeps" across his batting gloves) feels very much like one of two contributing factors to what became a breakthrough tour for the 24-year-old. Having established himself as a budding limited-overs superstar in the two years prior, Warner had set his sights on Test cricket. To be successful there however, he needed to address a fundamental problem: how to structure an innings of substance. Innings of 99 and 114 in the back-end of the previous summer's Sheffield Shield had shown promise, but those knocks had relied more on natural ability than any strategic blueprint for success.

"Previously, it's not like I didn't know what I was doing out there, it was more like, 'How do I go on with what I'm doing?'" Warner told me a few months after that Zimbabwe tour.

"The experience I got (in Zimbabwe) taught me a lot about batting time. (Tour selector) Greg Chappell always says to me, 'the more you bat, the better you're going to play – it'll help you in all forms of the game'."

Chappell and Cooley were excited by Warner's potential but his talent was unrefined, and his self-assuredness could be as much a burden as a boon. In Harare, they sent him out of the nets two days in a row when he initially ignored a request to rein in his cavalier approach ahead of the two four-day matches. Then they delivered an ultimatum.

"Greg Chappell said to me, 'Go down and see if you can talk some sense into him about adapting his game plan to a four-day format … (tell him to) at least try and defend one ball, and try not to get out 10 times every net session'," Cooley recalls.

"So I just approached that conversation by asking him what he was doing, and then it was basically, 'Well look, if you don't do it, you're not going to get selected'.

"Sure, he was a rough diamond, and he was very headstrong, but we enjoyed that; we wanted people to know what they wanted, and to go hell for leather chasing it, and he was doing that.

"But we also knew he needed to have more of a game plan for longer form cricket.

"In the end, he was smart enough to know that message was coming from an absolute batting icon, and he wanted to be in that four-day team, so he went about making a few changes and satisfying the head selector that he was able to adapt to all formats of cricket right there and then."

Australia A played two four-day matches on that tour. In the first, as if to prove a point to the old men, Warner scored 48 and 82 at a combined strike-rate of 103.17. In the second, perhaps to prove another one, he batted for seven-and-a-half hours to make 211 from 345 balls.

"He worked out what was going to work on that day," remembers Ferguson, "and he just plundered. It was something else to watch.

"Playing on those wickets as a top-order batter, it's a good time to bat, before the ball starts reversing or turning, so for Davey, it was a blank canvas to learn the ropes of batting for hours on end. He found a really good rhythm, and whilst he has never really put the shots away in the pursuit of batting for long periods, it helped him be more consistent with shot selection and taught him about building an innings, and working through the gears.

"It seemed like it was all falling into place for him. He began that ascent to the next level."

When the squad returned home, Cooley's tour report included a strong recommendation that Warner to be exposed to the top level, and soon. Chappell's selection philosophy had always been based on the promotion of talent over sheer volume of runs or wickets, and true to that theory, the pair pushed for Warner's elevation.

"I remember vividly what we were saying when we came back," Cooley says. "We said, 'We've got someone very special here. He needs an opportunity, and he needs it now'.

"There were lots of conversations around, 'Listen, this young man has the X-factor. He has the qualities. Let him play'."

Despite the concerted campaign, Warner couldn't crack the squad for Australia's next Test assignment, in South Africa, but after he made 148 from 185 balls in New South Wales' opening Shield game he was flown over as cover for the second match in Johannesburg. There, he boldly declared to Lyon that his debut was only a matter of time.

"David being David – extremely confident – he just said, 'Don't worry 'Gaz' (Lyon), I'll be there first Test of the summer against the Kiwis," he recalls. "And I was like, 'Gee, that's a big call. We've still got our current Test openers here at the moment'.

"But sure enough, he was there."

A hamstring injury to Shane Watson proved all the opening Warner needed, and in his second Test, he scored his maiden hundred, carrying his bat for a second-innings 123no as Australia fell to New Zealand by seven runs on a green seamer in Hobart.

Watching on from state land was Chris Rogers, who had peeled off a couple of hundreds for Victoria in the opening Shield rounds to reaffirm his seemingly perennial position as a fringe Test candidate.

"I probably saw the rise (of Warner) with a little bit of frustration, like, 'Here's another one who's jumping the queue'," Rogers tells cricket.com.au. "But then he got that hundred down in Hobart in his second Test. As someone who's competing for a place, you're pretty realistic, so there was a recognition then that, 'Nah, this bloke's pretty special … he's gonna be in for a while now'."

* * *

"That totally took him into a different stratosphere" – Ed Cowan

Ed Cowan winds the Warner narrative all the way back to the mid-1990s.

"I've known Dave since he was 10 years old," Cowan tells cricket.com.au. "I used to throw balls at him out the back of Waverley Oval (in Sydney's eastern suburbs).

"He would come and watch his brother, Steve, play and I was playing in Steve's team, and so as little brothers do, they hang out and make themselves known.  

"I think 'confident' would describe him (laughs). He was an unbelievably skilled kid who could bat right- and left-handed, and just always had a cricket bat in his hand."

Brad Haddin was another who was on hand for Warner's arrival in Sydney's Premier Cricket scene in the early 2000s. He recalls the then teenager entertaining his older teammates every Saturday morning with wild anecdotes from his Woolworths shift the previous night, while his mum, Lorraine, took charge of the Waverley Oval canteen.

For Haddin, signs of 'the Bull' were there even during those formative years.

"He was always a ball of energy," he tells cricket.com.au. "Always very busy, even when you were getting ready to bat.

"But what I do remember about his cricket nous so early was his willingness to drive a game forward. We played against Penrith really early in his career, and they had a couple of experienced fast bowlers who were quite quick, and he came out and took them on straight away from number seven.

"He took his helmet off, because he wasn't used to wearing a helmet in junior cricket, so it was uncomfortable, and I said, 'What are you doing?'

"He said, 'I'm gonna take these old blokes on'. True to his word, in David Warner style, he took the game on and got the better of them. He always had that appetite to drive the game, and he's stayed rock solid to that through his whole career."

There were other elements, too, that Haddin noted as hallmarks of a champion, while Warner's ability to agitate an opponent – even unintentionally – was also already ingrained.

"He was hard to bowl to because he had so many scoring options," he says. "He was that modern-day player that could score 360 (degrees), and he probably could have played third grade cricket as a right-hand batter.

"But the thing I noticed most about him was he had time to do things, and all the great players have time. Once he started to develop some batsmanship and craft, it was like, 'Hang on a minute, this guy's going to be a special player'.

"And he was one of those players that could get under the opposition's skin. Sometimes he didn't even mean to do it. He was just bouncing around in the field, trying to keep himself and his teammates amused."

Years later, Rogers witnessed the same sort of on-field behaviour, and the same reactions from opponents.

"I don't know if it was by design or not, but because of his personality, Davey would draw so much attention to himself when he was batting," he says. "So at the other end, you could slide under the radar, because the opposition was so focused on him.

"He was almost baiting them at times, and they would bite, and go hard at him and then kind of forget about you.

"Of course they were always trying to get you out, but when it was him out there, it was amped up, and if you were good enough, you could just knock them around and accumulate.

"Sometimes I'd be on strike and he'd be getting sledged at the non-striker's end, and he'd be talking back to them. He enjoyed that."

Four years his senior, Cowan watched with particular interest as the precocious Warner rose through the ranks just behind him, debuting for NSW two years after he did. The two left-handers contrasted in both style and personality, but neither fact impinged on their relationship as teammates as they began to establish themselves with the Blues.

"We're certainly different people with a different view of the world, but fundamentally, that's part of the joy of team sports and cricket – getting the best out of teammates and understanding that differing view," Cowan says.

"So we always got along great even though (we were) different people, different cricketing styles, different beliefs around how best to play the game.

"Fundamentally, he was a brilliant cricketer that I always admired. I tried to help him and impart knowledge where I could, but he was obviously far better than me, so it probably shifted over time."

Warner's preparedness to listen to, and then act on, constructive criticism (albeit sometimes grudgingly, as with Chappell in Harare) is a recurring theme through his career and a less-discussed key to his success.

Through the more than two thousand runs they shared together in Test partnerships, Rogers says his opener partner "was always chasing answers, and an understanding of how to get better". And while it is a trait that has been masked by natural talent and an unshakeable confidence that could sometimes err towards brashness, Cowan nonetheless found it unsurprising in a young man with lofty ambitions.

"One thing about Dave that probably gets undervalued with his innate talent is he's still a craftsman, and he's interested in finding mastery, and that comes with various points of information from a whole range of different people," he says.

"You can't play 100 Tests without constantly wanting to better yourself, and his improvement right through the ages has shown that."

One of the first people to plant the seed in Warner's mind that he could transfer his talents to Test cricket was another opener who pioneered the blazing approach 'the Bull' later adopted.

Snapped up by the ever-savvy Greg Shipperd for the Delhi Daredevils in the 2009 Indian Premier League (just three months after his stunning introduction to T20 International cricket at the MCG against South Africa, where he crashed 89 from 43 balls), Warner suddenly found himself keeping company with Indian great Virender Sehwag. The buccaneering opener has since claimed his rookie teammate was more interested in partying than practising through that tournament, yet despite that, he saw promise.

"When I went to Dehli, Sehwag watched me a couple of times and said to me, 'You'll be a better Test cricketer than what you will be a Twenty20 player'," Warner told The Sydney Morning Herald on the eve of his Test debut in 2011.

"I basically looked at him and said, 'Mate, I haven't even played a first-class game yet', but he said, 'All the fielders are around the bat, if the ball is there in your zone, you're still going to hit it. You're going to have ample opportunity to score runs'."

"He's a great player that I've looked up to in the last couple of years, especially when I've been training with him and seeing how he goes about his stuff."

By the time Warner's maiden summer as a Test cricketer was complete, the comparisons between the two were already being drawn, ironically off the back of the Australian's remarkable 69-ball hundred at the WACA Ground against an Indian side that included Sehwag.

Playing just his fifth match, Warner scored the fastest century by an opener in Test history in the final session of the opening day, after Australia had bowled India out for 161. It was a spectacular performance, played out in primetime for the eastern states, and capped off with an audacious six over long-on to bring up three figures. He finished the next day with 180 from 159 balls and, in a blink, Australia had a new superstar in Test cricket.

"He was unfairly categorised as a T20 player, although I think people are seeing the light now," Brett Lee told me at the time. "He's no slogger, believe me. He's a serious, serious player. Potentially, he's another Virender Sehwag, and I don't mean that he can be a bit of a Sehwag; I'm saying he can do exactly the same kind of damage Sehwag does."

Opening with Warner in that Perth match was Cowan. It is the innings he believes best typifies him as a Test cricketer.

"That totally took him into a different stratosphere," he says. "To see him do it against a red ball, at the next level against the best in the world, you don't realise how good people are until they do that.

"He was playing a totally different game. You're talking about a wicket that was providing plenty of assistance to the bowlers; a wicket that five either current or to-be-great batsmen – Sehwag, (Sachin) Tendulkar, (Rahul) Dravid, (VVS) Laxman and (Virat) Kohli, and add (MS) Dhoni in that mix – had been bowled out on for 160, and he basically got them singlehandedly, against a very good attack.

"And it wasn't just the runs, but how he got them. That was him at the peak of his powers. That maybe seems counterintuitive because it was only five Tests in, but I think sometimes as you get older, you search for consistency, and that was more just the spirit of youth.

"You can be jaded by the game at times as you get older, so it probably speaks to that fearlessness of him when he was at his best."

Warner had needed just one summer to convince everyone he was the real deal as a Test opener. His performances also confirmed in his mind what, deep down, he already believed.

"I've never doubted myself," he told me at the end of that season. "I know I've got a technique that's very much my own, and I know now that I can keep a structure that I can score runs with.

"Now people are actually seeing a different side of me, which is good, because it's exposing what I'm actually capable of."

* * *

"It just felt like the whole crowd were there to watch Davey bat, and they wanted me off strike" – Chris Rogers

Across the next six years, Warner was Test cricket's most destructive batter. In 67 Tests he scored 5,943 runs at 49.11, with 20 hundreds, all while striking at 74.89. Twice he hit three consecutive hundreds, while one particularly productive sequence in 2014 read: 115, 70, 66, 135, 145, 133, 29, 19, 58, 145, 102.

Part of that run took in Australia's 2014 tour of South Africa, by which point he and Rogers had become settled as an opening pair off the back of the previous summer's Ashes whitewash, in which both left-handers scored heavily.

Having been recalled in 2013 as a 35-year-old, Rogers observed Warner with experienced eyes. He knew the housing commission kid from Matraville was rough around the edges, as the incident with Joe Root during that year's Ashes tour had underlined, but he quickly came to admire some of the traits he saw.

"He's always been that combative, aggressive, in-your-face kind of character, but he was loyal to a tee; he'd have your back," Rogers says.

"He had the discipline thing in England, where he was sent away from the group for a week or two, and I remember 'Boof' (then head coach Darren Lehmann) basically saying to Davey, 'Mate, it's time to pull your head in'.

"He came back in, and him and I forged a pretty good relationship actually, which was surprising and it wasn't; in terms of our characters, we're a little bit different, but equally, when you're opening the batting with someone, you tend to develop a pretty good relationship, and I think he valued that I could help him a little bit with the tactical side of the game."

Heading into Warner's 100th Test, Rogers remains his most prolific batting partner. The pair combined for 2,053 runs at 51.32 as an opening pair, with nine century stands. Key to that success, Rogers believes, was him learning what makes Warner tick.

"Not all opening bats have recognised this but all he really wants is for the person down the other end not to get out," he says. "Basically give him the strike, don't get out, and don't compete with him.

"I didn't fully understand that until the second innings in Adelaide against India (2014-15). I was on two and Davey was on 40-odd, and the crowd was going off – it just felt like the whole crowd were there to watch Davey bat, and they wanted me off strike.

"I got out, and I walked off and I thought, What have I done there? The crowd was getting entertained enough – it didn't really matter what I was doing.

"So from then on, I just tried to hang with him for as long as I could, and just let him play."

Rogers sees that 2014 tour of South Africa as Warner at his peak. He was 27 Tests into his career, and had acquired valuable batting lessons through three home summers as well as tours of the Caribbean, India and England.

In India during the 'Homework-gate' tour of 2013, he had spoken in-depth with Cowan about how best to negate the similar challenges they were up against.

"We worked very closely, particularly as two left-handers facing many of the same angles of attack and styles of bowling … despite having very different styles," Cowan recalls. "That led to deep technical conversations about how best to play in different situations against different bowlers, and what works and what doesn't, and really helping each other feel it through."

In the third Test in Mohali, the pair put together a satisfying 139-run stand, a bright spot in an otherwise challenging tour, and still Australia's highest-ever for the first wicket in India.

Rogers, too, says he was "always really impressed by his thoughts around batting and how he was trying to get better".

"He's a lot more strategic than people think," he adds. "He would listen, and he would try things. When you can hit the ball like he does, it can look like it's just, 'See ball, hit ball', and you think it's a pretty simple game for them.

"But he was very thoughtful about how he went about it. When he did do well in England (he averaged 46.44 in the 2015 Ashes, with five 50s), he would lock it down against (Stuart) Broad and (James) Anderson, and then he'd go, 'Whoever's bowling first change, I'm absolutely going to take down'.

"So he was having some good plans around what he was trying to do, and we would have really good conversations. I think he liked just talking it out as well."

Sometimes though, Warner was simply a man of action; whether pursuing rapid runs to set up a declaration, or attempting a calculated assault on a particular bowler, he had the technique and fearlessness to routinely pull it off.

In South Africa in 2014, Rogers found he too could be a beneficiary of that.

"I remember (Morne) Morkel ripped my world apart in the first Test," he says. "He bowled two length balls that kicked – I tried to duck the first one and got hit, and then the second one I lobbed up towards short leg and I was out.

"I went out to bat in the second innings (of the next Test), Morkel was bowling pretty quick, and I was really worried; I didn't know how I was going to play him, and I reckon I was on my last chance.

"Then Davey hit him for four fours in four balls, and it was some of the best batting I'd ever seen. It was incredible. He just decided he was going to take him down, and he decided where he wanted to take him down. So Morkel got taken off. I couldn't believe it."

In the next Test, Warner scored twin hundreds at virtually a run a ball. They are innings that have been overshadowed by Michael Clarke's century while batting with a fractured left shoulder and the dramatic nature of Australia's win, but against Morkel, Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander, they remain masterclasses of the era.

"Morkel was bumping Michael Clarke, and he was bowling quick," Rogers remembers. "But Davey had no problem. He was at another level. That's some of the best batting I've ever seen in my life.

"Just his style of play; watching how he could use his bottom hand to hit off the back foot through cover point and midwicket, I found that fascinating. I barely held the bat handle with my bottom hand, but he would use it to hit into areas that others couldn't. Some of those trademark shots he has are incredible.

"It was probably the blueprint for what was coming next – the T20 revolution and the style of play (where you're) using your bottom hand to play more of those cross-bat shots to hit into different areas.

"But South Africa was something else. That was a period where his game was as good as it ever was."

* * *

"He could be quite difficult to deal with at times" – Chris Rogers

It was shortly after that 2014 Test series that Warner announced via Instagram and a cover splash on New Idea that he and his partner, ironwoman Candice Falzon, were engaged, and expecting. The announcement was typical of an evolving Warner off the field. Though his personality sometimes polarised opinion, he seemed to enjoy the attention that accompanied his celebrity status. In the meantime, the runs continued to come and Falzon (now Warner) even helped him shed weight and reach the impressive fitness levels he has since maintained.

Before our eyes, Warner had morphed from rogue to doting dad, though as Rogers found, the nature of his daily existence meant there was still much maturing to do.

"He pretty much grew up in the international cricket bubble, where a lot of it's centred around you," says the 45-year-old, who is nowadays Victoria's head coach. "I think it's really hard for the likes of him and Steve (Smith) and these kind of people to grow up in that environment, because it's not reality – you're having everything done for you, and you become acclimatised to that level of importance.

"Even now, from a coaching point of view, you're trying to make the player feel as comfortable as possible, look after them, do as much as you can for them at times, and sometimes they don't get the rounded early adulthood they need.  

"It's something that I think (Warner has) come to understand more and more as he's gotten older and more mature.

"He probably is much more now, but (when we played together) I don't think he was particularly consistent (in his personality); sometimes he would be really happy and boisterous, other times he'd be a little bit aggressive, and then other times he just wouldn't talk.

"He could be quite difficult to deal with at times in terms of, sometimes he would take the banter too far, but that was another competition for him.

"Sometimes – as we all do – he probably overstepped the mark a little bit at times in that environment. There were days I really liked him, there were days I thought he was a bit of a knob. He knew that as well.

"But I think with all the experiences he's been through, that's mellowed him, and he understands who he is a lot more. He's got a wife, he's got kids, and he understands just how important consistency is."

Haddin was another keen observer as Warner and Smith rose through the ranks at New South Wales and then Australia in their 20s, attempting to make their way from young men into responsible leaders in the glare of the spotlight.

"What you've got to realise, these guys came into international cricket really young," he says. "They were involved in IPL. Australia. Everything happened fast.

"They weren't learning in state cricket ... they had to grow up in the public eye, whereas (many others) could do a lot of their learning in state cricket before they got to the Australian team."

Haddin also recalls watching the pair thrive off each other's competitiveness. Both Warner and Smith had an endless appetite for learning about the craft of batting, and a burning desire to be the best.

"In fielding drills, it was like watching (Ricky) Ponting, (Andrew) Symonds and Clarke go at each other," he says. "They just wanted competition in whatever they did, whether it was eating their breakfast first or playing touch football. That's why they're so successful – that competitive edge flourishes when they're under pressure.

"And that, to me, sums up David Warner when he was at the peak of his powers: he just loved the pressure, and loved being in the big moments. He wanted to walk into the fire."

* * *

"Yeah, my back's up against the wall, but it's in my DNA to keep being competitive" – David Warner

It is instructive that the likes of Rogers and Cowan were long gone from the Australia set-up when the squad returned to South Africa in 2018. So too were experienced heads like Clarke, Haddin, Shane Watson, Ryan Harris and Mitchell Johnson, with generational change having swept through the side in the middle of the decade. Smith, 28, was captain, and Warner, 31, his deputy. The wildly competitive kids had for some time by then been steering the ship, becoming experienced Test cricketers in the process. Among that touring party, only Lyon had played more Tests.

In his tearful press conference back at Sydney Airport, as the full weight of the sandpaper scandal was being felt, Warner addressed one section of his prepared statement directly to Cricket Australia (CA), saying: "I want you to know that I fully support your review into the culture of the Australian cricket team."

In also accepting "full responsibility for my part in what happened on day three of the Newlands Test", he was tacitly conceding he had played a part in the need for such a review. A pillar of Warner's success as a batter had always been his clarity, but when it came to his character, matters were muddied.

Chappell, who was CA's national talent manager at the time, later detailed in his book, Not Out, Warner's role as "attack dog" in the team, one that seemed to complement the 'Bull' persona. Chappell said Warner had been forced to "move himself out of that job" due to a build-up of ICC code of conduct violations, which meant a suspension was looming. The shift prompted his teammates to bestow upon him a new nickname, with tongues planted firmly in cheeks: 'The Reverend'. Silent on the field, it also referred to his quieter ways off it; beers with the boys had made way for green teas and time with the family. Warner laughed about it, too: "It's just a bit of an in-house joke," he said in 2016. "The boys call me 'The Rev' now because they reckon 'The Bull' has been tamed a little bit."

Yet by the summer of 2017-18, shortly after he had quietened whispers he was merely a 'flat-track bully' with a couple of his finest Test hundreds in Bangladesh, The Bull – be it by instruction or otherwise – was back.

"There was a feeling from the team's management and leadership that an attack dog was needed," Chappell added, "and that haranguing opposition players and getting in their faces was part of how the team won."

Warner's aggression was on full display during his fiery confrontation with Quinton de Kock after the first Test in Durban. It was a long way from The Reverend, who Aaron Finch said had provided a calm and positive influence on the group as a leader.

"It's always a worry in any situation when someone is so extreme in one direction or the other," said Adam Gilchrist at the time. "I think Davey's got to find somewhere in between that."

Through his 12-month suspension, Warner maintained a dignified silence, although with questions unanswered and conspiracy theories floated, the matter never really went away.

His return to Test cricket in the second half of 2019, during which he turned 33, marked both the high and low point of his career in terms of output as an opening batter. In the UK-based Ashes, he became Broad's bunny, but when he returned home he did so with a bang, hitting 156 against Pakistan in Brisbane before a record-breaking 335no in Adelaide. Ironically, the triple hundred remains the only time he has faced more balls (418) or spent more time in the middle (554 minutes) than during his breakthrough 211 in Zimbabwe back in 2011.

Since that innings against Pakistan, he has scored one century in 18 Tests, while averaging 31. His current sequence of 27 innings without a hundred is the longest of his time in Baggy Green, and last weekend it prompted Ponting to begin publicly speculating about the end.

"He deserves the chance to finish the way he wants to finish," his former skipper said on Channel 7 commentary. "I would hate to see him get to an Indian tour or at the start of the Ashes tour and then get the tap on the shoulder. That would be a disappointing way for his career to end."

After his twin failures in the two-day Gabba Test, Warner flew home to Sydney with his family. It seemed a smart move for a man who is most content in their company; an opportunity to briefly switch off from cricket and gather his thoughts ahead of his 100th Test. He was in Melbourne by Christmas Eve, fronting the media and answering the inevitable questions on his form and future after a long discussion with the curator out in the middle of the MCG.

"I'm as excited as ever to get back out here and play another Boxing Day Test," he said. "Yeah, my back's up against the wall, but it's in my DNA to keep being competitive, and come out here and put a smile on my face and take on whatever opposition I'm going to face.

"For me it's about keeping my mind clear and making sure I'm not going away from my gameplan. Nothing's really changed in my game, it's just a change of fortune (that's needed), and a bit of luck, and hopefully the runs can come out this Boxing Day."

And while all the noises coming out of the Australian camp about their star opener were positive, it was hard not to hear them as platitudes. Lyon said Warner had "100 per cent support of the changing room". Steve Smith added: "We've seen David when his back's up against the wall, he's done pretty well", and chief selector George Bailey assured the public the batter was "looking fantastic in the nets".

In truth, they knew only runs from Warner could shift the prevailing narrative.

* * *

"He's accomplished everything he's needed to accomplish. This next period won't define him" – Chris Rogers

Warner's twilight years have seen another layer of his character emerge. While still the relentless "ball of energy" (Mitch Starc) who "never shuts up" (Smith), those close to him say he has mellowed and matured somewhat, spending time with support staff as often as his teammates and becoming something of a planner in the group.

"He organises golf a lot of the time now," grins Josh Hazlewood. "Gets us on a few nice courses."

Pat Cummins jokes that Warner is "an expert on everything".

"I always say he knows one fact about everything in the world," he smiles. "The facts might not be right (laughs), but every day he turns up with this random new fact or new story, where he's just seen the headline and he starts talking about it as though he's (an expert). It's always good fun."

Teammates speak to his levity, loyalty and generosity, all of which he offers in spades. Likewise, family values are a consistent theme, and Rogers wonders if the personal weight of the ongoing fallout from the sandpaper scandal will factor into his decision on whether to play Test cricket beyond the home summer.

In a statement earlier this month, the 36-year-old withdrew his appeal to have his leadership ban overturned, saying: "I am not prepared to subject my family or my teammates to further trauma and disruption … some things are more important than cricket".

"Personally, I think he's accomplished everything he's needed to accomplish," Rogers says. "This next period won't define him, but equally, knowing who he is and the fight he has in him, he would love to finish on a high, and he will fight for that as hard as he can.

"The only question I'd ask is whether the off-field stuff will cause him to step away before he really wants to. Because if it was just the cricket, I think he'd be thinking this next period is something he wants desperately."

Before Test tours of India and England however, it is worth pausing for breath and reflecting on a legacy that has in large part already been written.

Cowan calls him a "generational talent", Cooley labels him an "X-factor, an entertainer", and Rogers sees him as "a trailblazer, first and foremost".

"He's helped change the attitudes around the development of players," the latter adds. "A lot of times now, (coaches are) trying to (find) those guys who can clear the boundaries, who can do something with a bit of X-factor because you can see the value they bring to the team.

"So from that point of view, he's a trailblazer. But he'll also be remembered as an incredible player. He's someone who was flawed at times, made some mistakes, but resilient.

"There's a lot of people who might have stepped away a lot earlier after going through everything he's been through, and that speaks to his character as well, but it's not surprising, because you only had to play with him to see what a competitor he is."

Cooley thinks back to that Australia A tour of Zimbabwe in 2011, a few months before Warner's Test journey began, when 'the Bull' was taking hold.

"We obviously saw an absolutely outstanding talent," he says, "but we also saw those qualities underneath: the positive attitude around himself and the people around him in cricket; he was very, very sure of what he wanted; he was always looking to improve; he was working as hard as all the champions I'd seen coming through before him; and he had this massive growth mentality.

"Sure, he pushed the envelope and he made some mistakes, but you don't get anywhere if you don't make mistakes.

"So did we know he would be great? Well, you never know, but we knew he had all the qualities the champions had, and that's why we kept investing."

For most of the 11 years since, it has been a Bull market.

Men's NRMA Insurance Test Series v South Africa

First Test: Australia won by six wickets

Dec 26-30: Second Test, MCG, 10.30am AEDT

Jan 4-8: Third Test, SCG, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Lance Morris, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner

South Africa squad: Dean Elgar (c), Temba Bavuma, Gerald Coetzee, Theunis de Bruyn, Sarel Eree, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Heinrich Klaasen, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne, Lizaad Williams, Khaya Zondo

Buy #AUSvSA Test tickets here