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Has there been a more contentious cricketer in modern history? It has been impossible not to hold an opinion about David Warner at every stage throughout his extraordinary career. Moreover, for many of us that opinion has changed frequently and dramatically as the opener has repeatedly found himself at the centre of the action on and off the field.
As the introduction to this Geoff Lemon piece from late 2022 demonstrates, in just one paragraph it’s easy to form many competing opinions of the man simultaneously.
Over a long career, David Warner has presented many versions of himself. The short-form bludgeoner of his T20 debut in 2009 gave way to the studious opener of his first Test century on a Hobart greentop in 2011. The raucous presence known as The Bull who was suspended from the 2013 Ashes gave way to the contemplative Reverend by 2015, schooling teammates on the power of positive thinking, before returning to his most confrontational mode before the Ashes in 2017. The instigator of the sandpaper ball-tampering plot in 2018 served a year’s playing ban, ran the well-worn path of public redemption via on-field success, and has since presented himself as an elder statesman with an accordingly impeccable disciplinary record.