David Warner defines the term “earmarked for success” in the cricketing world just like a bunch of other highly prodigal individuals from the past now recognised as legends of the game.
Brutal and arrogant on-field and (now) a respectable family man off the field, the left-handed batsman was always a superstar that he is today. His family, coaches and friends all knew about it, both instinctively and evidently, having watched all his wonderful antics from a young age.
Starting out early, he mastered batting both right handed and left handed, dominated age – groups – beginning with the Under-8 till the Under-19 stage before marking his arrival at the international arena is perhaps the most distinctive style any cricketer can do.
Anger issues and bad behaviour caused harm to his reputation in the early days, but he soon corrected those personality flaws and today command respect as the vice-captain of Australia in the Test format and one of the top limited overs cricketer in the world.
On his birthday, let’s take a look back at 10 of the most interesting facts that give more insight about him.
Born on:
David Andrew Warner was born on 27th October 1986 in the Eastern Sydney suburb of Paddington in New South Wales.
Attacking instincts
David Warner attacking instinct is something that he possessed since he was a kid. This habit once forced one of his childhood coaches to ask him to switch to right-handed batting because he kept hitting the ball in the air while batting left-handed.
International debut
David Warner made his debut on January 11, 2009, the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) against South Africa. His debut was record-breaking in its sense as he became the first player in 132 years to represent the national team in any format without playing any First-Class match. He marked the special occasion by scoring 89 off just 43 balls.
The David “Author” Warner
Warner is a writer as well and is the proud author of the book ‘The Kaboom Kid- The big switch’.
Nicknames
David Warner has many nicknames like Lloyd, Mario, Bull, Cannon. More recently he is being called as ‘The Reverend’. It is said that he earned the name from head coach Darren Lehman.
Personal life
David Warner is married to a life-saver, iron-woman and fitness model Candice Falzon. The two tied the knot in 2014 and are a proud parent to two loving daughters – Ivy Mae and Indi Rae.
Unbeaten in the fourth innings as an opener
David Warner holds a unique record of being one of the few batsmen to carry his bat through in the fourth innings of a Test. He achieved the feat against New Zealand in the year 2011 at Hobart. Others who have done this are MH Dekkar, Geoffrey Boycott, WM Lawry, GM Turner and WM Woodfull.
IPL Career
Warner joined the IPL arena representing Delhi Daredevil for whom he played from 2009 till 2014 before getting released. Later, he was picked by Sunrisers Hyderabad for a handsome amount of Rs 5.5 crores. Warner has played 114 IPL matches and has amassed 4014 runs at an average of 38.33 and a strike rate of 142, including two tons with a best score of 126 against versus Kolkata Knight Riders. He also has won the Orange cap twice, the joint highest with Chris Gayle in the history of IPL.
Part Of The Australian Domination in IPL
Warner won the IPL title for SRH in the year of 2016 by beating Virat Kohli led Royal Challengers Bangalore in the finals. By doing so, he became the only third foreign skipper to win an IPL title. Interestingly, the other two foreign skippers also happen to be Australians (Shane Warne with Rajasthan Royals in 2008 and Adam Gilchrist with Deccan Chargers in 2009).