Where does David Warner rank among all-time leading Test openers?
Veteran Australian batter David Warner’s illustrious Test career came to an end following the three-match home series against Pakistan. The 37-year-old had announced a few months back that the series against Pakistan would be his last for Australia in the red-ball format.
The left-handed batter went into the series with his place under the scanner after some underwhelming returns in Test cricket over the last couple of seasons. However, he signed off from the format on a positive note, scoring 299 runs in six innings at an average of 49.83.
Warner finished as the second-leading run-getter in the series. He smashed 164 off 211 balls in the opening Test in Perth. The southpaw was dismissed for a duck in the second innings. In the next Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), he registered scores of 38 and 6 before signing off with 34 and 57 in the New Year Test at his home ground in Sydney.
Warner vs other top Test openers: A statistical comparison
If we look at the all-time list of leading Test openers about runs scored, Warner, features as high as No. 4. England legend Sir Alastair Cook tops the charts with 11,845 runs as an opener from 154 Tests at an average of 44.86 with 31 hundreds and 55 fifties.
Despite having retired back in 1987, Indian great Sunil Gavaskar is still in second position. He scored 9,607 as a Test opener in 119 matches at an average of 50.29 with 33 tons and 42 half-centuries. Former South African captain Graeme Smith comes in at No. 3. In 114 Tests as an opener, he amassed 9,030 runs, averaging 49.07 with 27 hundreds and 36 fifties.
Speaking of Warner, he opened in 112 Tests, scoring 8,747 runs at an average of 45.08 with 26 hundreds and 37 fifties. Another former Aussie batter Matthew Hayden (8,625 runs in 103 Tests as an opener at an average of 50.73) completes the top five.
Virender Sehwag (8,207), Sir Geoff Boycott (8,091), Graham Gooch (7,811), Mark Taylor (7,525), and Gordon Greenidge (7,488) are the other cricketers who make up the top 10 list of batters who have scored most runs in Tests as an opener.
Comparing away Test record of Warner and other prominent openers
Beyond overall stats, the versatility of a Test opener can be gauged by his performance away from home in challenging conditions. If we look at Warner first, he opened in 51 away Tests, scoring 3,037 runs at a disappointing average of 31.96 with five. The stats make it pretty clear that he struggled away from home in Test matches.
Of his five away tons, three came in South Africa and two in Bangladesh. He never scored a Test ton in India and Sri Lanka, where he had a very poor record. In India, he averaged 21.72 from 10 Tests as an opener, while in Sri Lanka, he had an average of 25.22 from five Tests. In Pakistan, the left-hander averaged 33.80 from three Tests.
Warner also failed to score a Test ton in England. He opened in 18 matches, scoring 931 runs at an average of 27.38 with a best of 85. Rather surprisingly, he does not possess a good Test record as an opener in West Indies as well, managing only 269 runs in five matches at an average of 26.90.
Looking at other top Test names in the list, Cook averaged 45.64 in 66 away Tests with 17 tons. He averaged 51.45 from Tests in India with five hundreds and 48.94 from 20 Tests in Australia with five tons. Cook also averaged 48.33 in Sri Lanka, but struggled in New Zealand and South Africa, averaging 27.13 and 31.40, respectively, in eight Tests each.
Shifting focus to Gavaskar, he opened in 56 Tests away from home, scoring 4,869 runs at an average of 52.92 with 18 hundreds. The Little Master averaged a superb 70.20 in West Indies, who were a mighty side back then, with as many as seven hundreds. The Indian legend also scored five tons in Australia, where he averaged 51.11, and three in Pakistan, averaging 58.88.
Former South African captain Smith averaged 54.86 as a Test opener in away conditions, scoring 4,828 runs in 52 matches with 15 tons. His stats are a bit misleading though. He averaged 35.91 as an opener from seven Tests in India and 41.38 from 10 Tests in Australia. Smith made up for the underwhelming numbers with some exceptional performances in other nations. He averaged 67.75 with five tons in England, 57.20 in New Zealand, and 52 in Sri Lanka.
Looking at Hayden’s numbers, he averaged 41.69 in 44 away Tests as an opener with eight hundreds. Hayden averaged 51.35 in India from 11 Tests, but had an average of 34.50 from 10 Tests in England, 28.14 from four Tests in New Zealand, and 34.66 from 10 Tests in South Africa.
India’s Sehwag was a player in a similar mode to Warner. As an opener, he averaged 45.25 in 50 away Tests with nine tons. He did reasonably well in Australia at the top of the order, averaging 46.86 with two hundreds. However, Sehwag struggled badly as a Test opener in England, New Zealand, and South Africa, averaging 27.80, 19.37 and 17.54, respectively.
Coming back to Warner, he finished with Test career with impressive numbers. However, he wasn’t the same force away from home, very much like Sehwag and Hayden and Smith to an extent. As such, Warner cannot be placed in the same league as Cook and Gavaskar, who were proven performers home and away.
A fair assessment of the retired Aussie batter’s international red ball career would be to term him as a match-winner in home conditions, where he averaged an excellent 58.35 from 58 Tests as an opener, amassing 5,427 runs with 20 tons.