David Warner’s nine-year-old fan Sam Williams enjoys a lifetime experience in Sydney

Sam Williams is a huge fan of David Warner.

Sam offering water to the Randwick Petersham players | Peter Bannigan

Most young cricketers always dream of meeting their heroes and young Buninyong all-rounder Sam Williams is one of those who recently realized his dream by meeting his idol –David Warner during a match between Randwick Petersham between Southerland on Saturday (November 10).

Nine-year-old Williams is a huge fan of Warner and he is not like other kids as the young all-rounder has left a great impact that no one could imagine by his little step to help his idol out when the ball tampering scandal hit the Australian cricket earlier this year.

In the aftermath of the ball-tampering saga, Sam was disappointed with his schoolmates and the community for their hostile reaction against the swashbuckling left-hander, but the kid took the initiative to let Warner know that Australia had not given up on him rather than persecute.

Williams revealed to The Courier, “Everyone at school turned their back on him after it happened. I sent Randwick Petersham Cricket Club (Warner’s NSW club side) a letter saying that David Warner was still my favourite player and that he needed to know who his mates were.”

His mother Marita was extremely proud of her son, saying: “I get quite emotional because I'm just so proud of Sam, all along no matter what happened, David Warner has been his number one hero, he just idolises him.”

Moved by the letter, Randwick Petersham Cricket Club (RPCC) president Mike Whitney forwarded the letter to the Warner family and later the Williams family got a response that they never expected, as they were invited to Sydney where Sam would be the guest of honour in the club’s game against Sutherland.

Mrs Williams added on the same, “Speaking to David's wife, she said that reading the letter meant the world to him. There was so much negativity surrounding him, so knowing he still had support really helped. Even when we went up to Sydney we didn’t know what to expect, maybe a handshake and a photo with David and that would be it.”

Warner gave his young fan some words of advice going forward to wear the baggy green someday. Sam signed off by saying, “I’m still in shock, I just can’t believe I got to meet him and got to do everything I got to do, I’m still lost for words. He told me the real key to success is to not get nervous, to block out all the noise and distractions that are coming from outside and just focus on the next ball coming down the pitch.”

(With The Courier Inputs)

 
 

By Rashmi Nanda - 15 Nov, 2018

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