Why David Warner's attack on Joe Root highlighted his insecurities over his own ... - Mirror.co.uk

I've always thought that when sportsmen use their fists to settle an issue, it is usually because they have run out of ideas, skill and wit to combat the problem.

As if to prove the point, I give you David Warner.

Warner managed to get a thin nick on Joe Root's face as he tried to clock him one in a Walkabout bar in Birmingham and you've got to wonder what the lad did to provoke such an attack.

Was it down to the green and gold wig that the young Tyke was said to be wearing?

Was it because he had turned said wig upside down and used it as a beard, perhaps to impersonate WG Grace?

Was it because the 22-year-old is as cheeky and enthusiastically witty a lad as you're likely to find and has more than a few put downs up his sleeve?

Or was it because England had just thumped Australia by a bucketload that day at Edgbaston?

David Warner was dropped for Australia's match against New Zealand on Thursday

 

To be honest, it doesn't really matter because none of those reasons are really enough to merit a smack across the chops for his trouble.

The point is that Warner felt he had run out of ideas. Beaten on the field and perhaps Root was running verbal rings around him off it too, but the moment he picked up his fists to resolve the problem was another victory for Root and England.

The Ashes is at its best when the two team are competitive and are trading cricketing punches with each other rather than real ones and the genuine worry is that, if the Aussies have already turned to fighting, what does that say about their cricket?

Letting your bat or bowling do the talking is far and away the most effective weapon and Warner is not really using his at the moment.

A man accused of not being able to handle his drinks is given the job of carrying the drinks...

 

When James Anderson cuffed Michael Clarke round the head with a pad in 2006/07 it may well have made him feel a little better in the moment, but the 5-0 scoreline revealed who had the last laugh.

In 2010/11 Anderson didn't resort to off-field aggression and England's 3-1 win had plenty to do with keeping him calm.

Warner appears so frustrated at his own lack of form that he is lashing out at anyone who comes into view, whether it is a journalist on twitter or an England player in a bar.

Yet all he is serving to do is to make the job of scoring runs even harder as the pressure grows and the scrutiny gets even more intense.

Warner is the sort of cricketer that people love to watch. When he is in full flow there are few more exciting talents.

And if he has the odd problem against the moving ball in England, well he can work on that. He certainly seemed able to find the middle of the bat in Australia last winter.

Right now though he has very few answers to the questions being posed out in the middle, and no matter how hard he tries he won't be able to punch his way out of this rut.