During the fifth Ashes Test at the Oval in 2023, former Australian bowling legend Glenn McGrath expressed apprehensions about David Warner’s performance. Following another disappointing display on Day 1, Warner is now under mounting pressure and faces the risk of jeopardizing his Test career if he fails to deliver in the second innings.
In the initial day’s play, the left-handed opener showed promise with a 49-run partnership alongside Usman Khawaja. However, his innings was cut short at 24 runs off 52 balls as he edged a delivery from Chris Woakes to the slips and lost his wicket.
Warner’s struggles have been apparent throughout the series, with just one score of 50-plus in nine innings, amounting to a meager total of 225 runs.
During an interview with SENQ Breakfast, Glenn McGrath expressed his doubts about Warner’s future in Test cricket, stating, “There’s a bit of pressure on Dave Warner. He looked ok in the first innings at the Oval but then got out again. To be honest, I think, unfortunately, that maybe it’s coming towards the end of his career. I know he came out the other day and said he wanted to play it to the end of next summer. But I think the pressure is on him, the vultures are circling.”
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Warner’s inability to convert good starts into substantial scores has been a cause for concern for some time now. Apart from his impressive unbeaten 200 against South Africa during the Boxing Day Test last year, he has struggled to produce significant innings recently.
Even in the fourth Ashes Test at Manchester, Warner displayed promise in both innings but failed to capitalize on it, managing 32 and 28 runs, respectively.
McGrath further added, “Unfortunately, Warner has got a lot of starts this series and then just gets out. I’m not sure what’s there, the timing is not quite there. He had that big innings back in Australia on Boxing Day where he got the 200, but there hasn’t been a sort of real big score before or after that for quite some time. He’s feeling the pressure, he still talks it up and says he’s going fine and this and that, but he’s got to put the runs on the board.”
Despite Warner’s struggles, Australia had a solid opening day at the Oval, aiming for their first series win on English soil since 2001. Currently leading the series 2-1, Australia dismissed England for 283 runs and reached 61/1 at stumps. As the crucial second innings awaits, all eyes will be on David Warner to see if he can salvage his Test career with a match-defining performance.