‘Broady’s gonna get ya’: Warner says he’ll sing England taunt before facing nemesis

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When one of the great personal battles in sport resumes at Old Trafford, David Warner will be quietly singing to himself about the man with the ball in his hand: “Broady’s gonna get ya, Broady’s gonna get ya”.

In the third Test at Headingley, Stuart Broad did indeed get Warner – for the 16th and 17th time in a battle that is now a decade old. In England especially, Warner is considered Broad’s bunny to a rare degree. Indeed, there are only two batsmen who have been dismissed more often by a single bowler: England’s Michael Atherton by Australia’s Glenn McGrath (19), and Australia’s Arthur Morris by England’s Alec Bedser (18). With a fair wind, Broad could have them both covered by the end of the month.

At Headingley, when he was dismissed by Broad for the second time, Warner walked from the field smiling, which was in keeping with a general ability to roll with the punches. He is one of the most combative, controversial characters in the game’s history but, at 36, some of his rougher edges have smoothed, so he finds different ways to get himself into the battle, hence his friendlier attitude and that song he learnt from the Hollies Stand at Edgbaston.

“I used to try to get into the bowlers a little bit but I have calmed down a lot since my younger days,” he told the Vaughany and Tuffers Cricket Club podcast, hosted by former England players Michael Vaughan and Phil Tufnell.

“I used to hit a boundary and go past the bowler and tell him it was a long half-volley or ask what he’d serve up next. There is no sledging in the game today. I don’t see it or hear it. The banter has gone a little bit because of all the franchise cricket, but you can still [find ways to] have banter out there.

“Back when I started, a lot of people didn’t like me on the field, that’s the way that I played, got up and about, how I got into the contest. I felt that is how I got the best out of myself. It probably didn’t look good from afar, but you find different ways to get into it out there, like singing songs in your head. There’s a lot of ways to get yourself going.”

David Warner walks off Headingley after being dismissed again by his nemesis Stuart Broad (inset).Credit: AP/Getty

Asked by Vaughan what song he will be singing as he takes to the Old Trafford field for the fourth Ashes Test on Wednesday, Warner suggests: “Broady’s gonna get ya. The Hollies Stand started that, I love it.”

While Warner has lent heavily into life as a mellowed family man – he and his wife Candice have three sports-mad young daughters – he puts his pugnacious nature down to his upbringing in social housing in a blue-collar corner of Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

“I am a very loyal person,” he said. “If you are in my team, one of my mates or a family member, I will always have your back. I would give my last dollar to anyone who needed it because that’s the way I was brought up. I grew up in a housing commission, having to fight. I did it, had to really work hard. I had that in me from 14 when I had to start working to pay the bills.

“Being competitive is a big thing. You have got to be brave. If you fear failure, I reckon you will fail. I have never feared failure, so I feel every game I go out thinking it could be my last. When you open the batting you are going to get out and you could get out first ball of the game, so I have had that instinct of backing myself and playing my way.”

‘I always love facing Broady … he is one of, if not the best, bowler to left-handers in today’s game.’

Although he has been on the rough end of it more often than not since the start of the 2019 Ashes (Broad has dismissed him 12 times since then, including twice for a duck at Old Trafford four years ago), Warner relishes the rivalry just as much as Broad. The bowler wrote this weekend about how he had found Warner difficult to bowl against, and has had to adapt his style to dismiss him so often. The mutual respect is evident.

“I always love facing Broady,” he says. “We have two left-handed opening batters and he is one of, if not the best, bowler to left-handers in today’s game. He is so good at it. Jimmy [Anderson] is there as well. These are guys we have watched and played against for a long time.

“In general, these last few years his record against top-order batters is incredible. Credit to him and the way he has bowled.

“I don’t really think about the match-up, you think about the ball that’s coming at you, how you are going to score. He bowls in a great area all the time.”

Guide to the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford

Teams

Australia: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (c), Josh Hazlewood.

England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Moeen Ali, Joe Root, Harry Brooks, Ben Stokes (c) Jonny Bairstow, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson.

Pitch: Pat Cummins described it as “really good” despite a lot of recent rain, which is typical of Manchester’s climate. Former England and Lancashire captain Mike Atherton believes the Old Trafford pitch is one of the best in the country because of its consistent bounce and carry, which suggests a good contest between bat and ball.

Weather: The Australians remember the Old Trafford Test of four years ago as the coldest they’ve played. There may be a heatwave in parts of Europe, but Manchester will be cloudy with a temperature in the high teens and a chance of showers over the weekend. Sounds like good bowling conditions.

Key players

Australia: The soft dismissals of Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith to Moeen Ali during Australia’s second innings at Headingley left Australia short of runs and opened the door for an England victory that kept the series alive. Smith made 211 and 82 in Australia’s 185-run victory at Old Trafford four years ago. Just half that many runs would put Australia on course for their first series victory in England for 22 years.

England: Like Jofra Archer’s pace changed the series in 2019, the arrival of Mark Wood in this series after missing the first two Tests recovering from injury shapes as a game changer. Wood uprooted the middle stump of Australia’s most prolific batsman in this series, Usman Khawaja, then swept away the tail, claiming a player of the match 5-34. A similar performance at Old Trafford could leave this series 2-2 with one to play.

Warner has played 17 Tests across four tours in England without scoring a century, and averaging just 25. His average in this series is 23.5, with two low scores at Headingley contributing to noise around his position. But Warner has made some important contributions to this tour, whether that is hard yards at Edgbaston or a gritty 66 at Lord’s.

“I feel in great touch,” he said. “I have felt good in the nets, leading in I’ve had good sessions against our quicks. Lord’s was probably the best I’ve batted in the last two years.

“I do feel sharp still. Some people get out and want to face a million balls in the nets. That’s not me, I don’t do that. I find peace going out on the golf course, I think that helps me on the field because I am relaxed. Now when you’re in England, you have to do the work. Even if you are on a hundred, there is always a ball with your name on it because something does happen, whether it’s the clouds coming in or you just get a good one. Need to work extra hard in England.

“England is definitely the hardest place to bat. In Australia, the ball moves around a little bit, but more off the seam and the wicket, not in the air. Here it moves in the air and off the wicket. With the flatter wickets, it might sound silly but the wicket is harder, so I feel like the ball moves sharply off the wicket both ways. Finding that difficult from when I first came over here in 2013 where it was slow swing, but big swing. Now no one tries to swing the ball as much, they just try to seam it.”

Warner has set his retirement date, for January 2024. Increasingly, it appears he will get his wish to go out on his own terms at his home ground, the SCG, even if pockets of the Australian cricket public, still scarred by the sandpaper scandal, would find joy in it being taken out of his hands.

“I think there was just way too much talk about it [my retirement],” he says, with typical directness. “I was sick of listening to it. Press conferences, Warner is out, he is doing this and that. I thought I would set an end date and everyone could get on with cricket.”

Whether he makes it to Sydney or not, these two Tests will be the last we see of Warner in the Ashes, and against Broad. Even if Broad’s tight hold on him remains, he will at least go down smiling, and singing.

Telegraph, London

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