Warner silences critics with pink-ball masterclass

David Warner has never been outwardly motivated by a need to prove points; to show his doubters they've got it wrong. 

But if that is silently a burr beneath his saddle, he could point to Friday's record-breaking, unbeaten 166 against Pakistan in the second Domain Test as yet another instance of preconceptions being unerringly misplaced. 

Warner, the T20 slugger who apparently had neither the technique nor the temperament to prosper in the Test game, now lays claim to more Test hundreds (23) than bona fide Baggy Green legends the likes of Neil Harvey, David Boon and Mark Waugh. 

The 33-year-old, who was supposedly finished at the elite level after serving a year-long suspension and then enduring a horror return during the recent Ashes campaign in the UK where he averaged 9.50 across five Tests, now has scores of 150-plus in consecutive innings. 

With the chance to go even bigger when play resumes in Adelaide today. 

And the flat-track Bull as some labelled him, citing the disparity in his Test record on true pitches (such as Australia and South Africa) versus those where the ball seams (England, New Zealand), must also reconsider their critiques. 

That's because Warner not only more than-tripled his previous best score in the day-night Test match format (47), he dominated the all-swinging, ever-seaming pink ball on what has proved its most conducive surrounds, and like no other Australia opener has been previously able to. 

Until yesterday, the best-performed local against the brand-new pink Kookaburra on the Adelaide pitch considered the nation's friendliest to fast bowlers was Usman Khawaja's 145 when he was installed as an accidental opener against South Africa three summers ago. 

It was an aberration, in that Khawaja was supposed to bat at number three but was hurriedly inserted to the top of the order after Warner was absent from the field when Proteas' skipper Faf du Plessis hurriedly declared his team's innings closed, with the first-choice opener therefore not permitted to fulfill his role.

But as was the case with those other nay-sayings that have echoed loud - but often not for long - in the earlier stages of his decade-long international tenure, Warner did not share the view that he was fallible under floodlights. 

He had, after all, excelled in all formats of the white-ball game played predominantly on late afternoons and beyond dusk, and averages more than 60 (including a century at the Gabba in 2016) in day-night Sheffield Shield matches for New South Wales. 

So the left-hander was moved to treat suggestions he was a pink-ball bunny with the same disdain he showed Pakistan's flagging bowlers once he'd passed 100 in the final hour of last night's chanceless innings. 

And it was his pre-match session in the Adelaide Oval nets on Wednesday evening, when he faced his fast-bowling teammates as well as firebrand young quick Aaron Summers operating at full throttle, that confirmed his already strong self-belief. 

"I've scored Shield pink ball hundreds," Warner said after forging an undefeated second-wicket stand of 294 with Marnus Labuschagne in Australia's day one total of 1-302. 

"A majority of the time (in previous day-night Tests), I've got some pretty good balls. 

"I felt like tonight I was really tight in defence, and it was probably the best I've ever left (the ball). 

"The other day with the new ball in these nets was kind of exactly like how the wicket was out there." 

While Warner's unstinting scampering between wickets in search of every available run, and some that perhaps weren't really there, was a feature of his 228-ball innings, he derived greater satisfaction from those deliveries he chose not to try and hit. 

Pakistan's decision to recall their best-performed seamer, Mohammad Abbas, after he was controversially overlooked for the series opener in Brisbane where his team was thumped had forced Warner to re-calibrate his plans. 

For not only was there a chance the pink ball would swing at stages under the heavy cloud and in the damp air that pervaded the afternoon and evening in Adelaide, but Abbas is renowned for relentlessly attacking the stumps and offering rival batters few scoring opportunities. 

Warner resolved to take the fight to his foe, batting outside his crease to mess with Abbas's usually immaculate length and also shifting his guard across his crease to ensure the right-armer risked straying on to the batter's pads if he zeroed-in on the wicket. 

Alternatively, if Abbas chose to "hang" the ball outside Warner's off-stump in the hope of gaining an edge, then the opener told himself to be patient and wait until his opponent erred into his safe hitting zones through point or mid-wicket. 

"Knowing what he (Abbas) is capable of, I had to be patient," Warner said. 

"I couldn't play those rash shots, and he really hung it out there and dangled the carrot. 

"I was just waiting for him to over-pitch, and that's one thing in my game I've really tried to work hard on is trying to be a bit more patient, and really wait for it. 

"I think in the last two games I've showed myself that I'm capable of doing that and I'm proud of how good my defence actually was tonight. 

"It's a lot easier to make that decision when you're able to get across and leave the ball, and then wait for that length and then you can still climb into it. 

"I didn’t try to over-hit the cover drives, I tried to punch it into the gaps and use my timing. 

"At the back end (of the day's play) I did throw the bat a little bit, but in saying that I've really tightened up and I know that if I can play underneath my eyes, it will hold me in good stead." 

If there is a final statistical quirk with which Warner's critics like to query him, it's the contrast between his Test record at home and offshore. 

At face value, it hardly makes for horror reading. 

In Test matches played on Australia pitches, and including yesterday's still-unfinished innings, he averages a remarkable 63.78 with 17 centuries, while abroad that average is 34.50 with six three-figure scores. 

Granted, it's disparate, but among those who have played 10 Tests or more away from the home tracks where they learned their craft, less than 40 boast a batting average greater than 50. 

And some notable names - among them current India coach Ravi Shastri, legendary West Indies opener Desmond Haynes and ex-Australia skipper Kim Hughes – have recorded away averages less than Warner's 34.50. 

"I don’t really take any notice, to be honest," said of the attention paid to his home-versus-away record. 

"A lot of the great players in the world haven't really scored many hundreds or whatever away from their countries. 

"My job is to score as many runs as a I can. 

"You don't really go into those away series thinking you haven't scored hundreds here, or you haven't scored big runs there. 

"At the end of the day, you've got to try and do your best for the team. 

"And for me, it's about trying to get the team off to a good start and trying to wear down the bowlers." 

Not even the most vociferous of David Warner's critics could mount an argument that he fell short of that key performance indicator yesterday. 

Domain Test Series v Pakistan

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c), Cameron Bancroft, Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner

Pakistan squad: Azhar Ali (c), Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq, Imran Khan Snr, Iftikhar Ahmed, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Musa Khan, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Yasir Shah.

First Test: Australia won by an innings and five runs.

Second Test: November 29 – December 3, Adelaide (d/n) (Seven, Fox & Kayo)