“I don’t think so,” John Buchanan refuses to consider David Warner as one of the ‘greats’ of cricket

Warner brought down the curtains on his Test and ODI career last week.

David Warner | GettyAustralian opener David Warner brought down the curtains on his Test career against Pakistan at the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground last week.

In his final Test innings, the southpaw scored a match-winning 57 to finish with 8,786 runs from 112 games in the longest format at an average of 44.60, including 26 hundreds and 37 half-centuries.

Before the Sydney Test, Warner also announced his retirement from the ODI format, in which he amassed 6932 runs from 161 games at 45.01 with 22 tons and 33 fifties.

Despite bringing laurels to the country with his performances in the past decade, David Warner doesn’t feature in former coach John Buchanan’s list of ‘Australian great batters’.

“I don’t think so,” Buchanan said on SEN Breakfast when asked if Warner was one of the greats of the game.

According to the former Aussie head coach, the greats of the game are those who have done something exceptional that others just can’t match.

“I think he (Warner) has certainly performed exceptionally well throughout this career, he sits on 8000+ runs, he’s played over 100 Test matches, over 160 ODIs and nearly 100 T20s. His averages are reasonable compared to all those in the various formats, his strike rate is obviously higher because of the way he plays the game.

“On performance base, he’s right up there. But greats of the game, in my opinion, are people that really do and have done something exceptional that others just can’t match, so, therefore, you automatically go to the (Don) Bradmans, (Glenn) McGraths, (Shane) Warnes, they’re the greats in my opinion,” he remarked.

John Buchanan was associated with one of the most successful Australian sides between 1999 to 2007. Warner didn’t play under his coaching as he made his Australia debut in 2009.

 
 

By Salman Anjum - 09 Jan, 2024

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