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After entering the game under pressure to score runs, Australia’s opening batsman David Warner said his double-century in the Boxing Day test against South Africa was among the best innings of his career.
After reaching 200 from 254 balls on Tuesday and retiring hurt with a cramp, Warner hobbled off the Melbourne Cricket Ground field with the aid of a trainer after tea on a steamy day two.
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Warm applause greeted the 36-year-old when he returned to the crease on Wednesday, but a scorching yorker from Anrich Nortje bowled him first ball.
Following a 253 against New Zealand in Perth in 2015 and an unbeaten 335 against Pakistan in 2019, this was Warner’s third double-century.
“I was going through (my best knocks) the other day with a couple of the journos and that definitely is up there now. To go out there, a lot of pressure, I don’t generally feel the pressure, I don’t get nervous,” David Warner said.
“But walking out here and telling my friends, ‘I’m going out to play the way I want to, looking to score and have intent’, and to deliver that in a Boxing Day test which is the pinnacle as a kid … to go out and execute that emphatically was awesome.”
Prior to Tuesday, Warner had not scored a test hundred in almost three years. He also managed just three runs in the series opener at the Gabba, despite averaging 25.50 in the two-test series against the West Indies at the start of the home summer.
“When your back’s against the wall, you can only look to move forward, that’s how I’ve always been,” he said.
“It was emotional, it was hard out there, it was draining. It was a magical moment and so proud to do it in front of my family and friends.”
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