5 lesser known facts about newly-minted TikTok star David Warner
Australia has produced a lengthy list of brilliant players over the years. One of them is David Warner. A destructive batsman who can also play the anchor role, David Warner has so far amassed 7244 Test runs at an excellent average of 48.94 including 24 centuries, to go with 5267 ODI runs at 45. 80.
As recently as November 2019 against Pakistan, he recorded the highest individual Test score by an Australian (335).
The dynamic Australian opener has been making the headlines recently because of his dance moves on TikTok. Warner's use of Indian songs in particular has earned him a huge fan following on the popular video sharing platform.
But there's lot more to be discovered about Warner in addition to his dancing skills. As with many players, one tends to only look at the well-covered aspects of his career, such as sensational innings’ and controversial incidents. So in this article, we take a fresh perspective and focus on the less known side of David Warner.
Without further ado, here are 5 unfamiliar facts about him.
#5 Warner went from rags to riches
David Warner is a real-life example of a cricketer who went from rags to riches. Growing up in the New South Wales town of Matraville, money was in short supply for the Warner family. Warner’s parents Howard and Lorraine worked hard but, according to The famous people, “hardly managed to fulfil the basic needs of their children (David and Steve)”.
When David Warner was 10, he received his first cricket bat, “which he used extremely carefully, as his family would not have been able to afford a new bat if something had happened to it”.
With luxuries such as pocket money not an option, the teen-aged David worked part-time while growing up. These shifts required a great deal of sacrifice, for they finished as late as midnight.
Despite facing such challenges, Warner worked tremendously hard on his cricket and eventually reaped the rewards.
#4 Warner was the first Australian in 132 years to play international cricket without any first-class experience
Warner took the Australian domestic scene by storm in the early part of his career. In the year of 2008, in particular, the then 22-year-old had bowlers on a string and grabbed eye-balls with his intuition, clean hitting and impressive power. His best performances of that year came against Tasmania (165 in a One-Day match at Sydney in November and a 54-ball 97 in the return fixture).
Seeing his potential, the national selectors fast-tracked Warner into Australia’s team for the first T20I against South Africa in January 2009.
His debut was significant: Warner was the first Australian since 1877 to play international cricket without any first-class (a match of three or more days) experience to his name.
To make his debut even more specia,l Warner almost scored a century (89 off 43 balls), to set a stellar career in motion.
#3 The batsman once missed a cricket match to go watch horse-racing
Credit to Warner, it seems like he has mellowed over the past year-and-a-half. But before then, he was an unpredictable character who was involved in numerous controversial incidents.
One of the least known controversial incidents involving Warner involves the time he missed a grade (which is inter-club or district cricket in Australia) cricket match to go watch horse racing.
This unusual episode occurred in October 2013. BBC reported that “Warner was expected to play for Randwick Petersham against Northern Districts but withdrew, claiming a need to spend time on batting practice. However, later that day he was pictured at Sydney's Randwick Racecourse”.
Afterwards, Warner was handed a one-match suspension for his misconduct and reprimanded.
#2 Warner is a children’s book co-author
The Australian batsman has a passion for inspiring the next generation of children to take up the game of cricket and enjoy it. That is why hr decided to co-author the ‘Kaboom Kid’ series from 2014 to 2016.
The series of eight books, published by Simon and Schuster Australia, has earned positive reviews from the writing fraternity for its easy-to-read but entertaining style. The books are modelled on Warner himself growing up, and capture the essence of his childhood (the details are mostly fiction).
#1 Warner is a savvy investor
Cricket is only one part of a player’s lifestyle and thus several players have other endeavours which they pursue off the field.
In Warner’s case it is investing. The 33-year-old is a smart investor who, after learning eagerly for several years, has built a considerable portfolio. Some of his investments include six properties which are shared between him and his wife Candice; a significant stake-holding in the successful Tasmanian company ‘666’ Vodka; and several other stocks.
As of 2020, Warner has a net worth of approximately $10 million, which comes from investments as well as cricketing contracts.
Special mention
A cricketer-turned-writer-turned dancer! You read that right. Warner has recently been setting the internet on fire with his adorable dances routines on TikTok which feature his entire family having a whale of a time while shaking a leg to popular Indian tunes.