David Warner has revealed that Australia Captain Tim Paine had extended a predetermined cut-off time for the innings to allow the opener to pass the 334-run record jointly held by Donald Bradman and Mark Taylor as the nation’s second-highest Test score.
The agreed time to end Australia’s innings against Pakistan was 5.40 pm Adelaide time, at which point Warner had equaled 334 but not passed it. However, Paine sent out a message that Warner had time to reach 335 before he closed the innings, allowing the 33-year-old opener to write a fresh page in the Australian cricket history a little more than 18 months after the Newlands scandal that had threatened to leave his name more associated with ball-tampering than batting. Paine called Warner in immediately after the final single at about 5.43 pm.
Warner Explained The Given Statement Related to Tim Paine:
There was no sort of any questions in Warner’s mind – or that of others – about batting long enough to challenge Brian Lara’s world record 400* against England, or Matthew Hayden’s 380 against Zimbabwe. This was due to a grim weather forecast, with the time gained on the second evening, allowing the Australian team to take six Pakistan wickets before stumps, leaving only 14 more to get for a series sweep.
“I don’t think so at all. We really looked at the weather that’s around tomorrow, we wanted to give ourselves a lot of time,” Warner explained after the day’s play. “If we could have the number of overs we got tonight and try to get a couple of wickets, we’ve managed to get six wickets down, if there is a bit of rain about tomorrow, the bowlers get a good rest, only have to come out and try to get 14 wickets in the last two days, so it wasn’t a thing in our mind to go out there and try to get that record or anything.
“The first person I asked was Steven Smith when I was out there battling. I said how many overs do you reckon we’ll have at them tonight, and it was literally that perfect amount. Then I came in, I think at that tea break, and I said ‘when are we declaring’, and they said ‘5.40 pm’ and I said ‘ok’. I kept on asking when we were out there, we got to five, then ten past five, and I was making sure that was still the message and it was. Until I think that last over before, it just ticked over 5.40 pm and Painey wanted me to try and get past that 334 marks.”
If we discuss the innings, Warner said he had wanted to “make a statement” in the wake of his poor Ashes tour. “It is obviously a massive achievement. But for me, it is always about coming out here and trying to make a statement,” he told Fox Cricket. “Through my poor form in England, but to come back to Australia and put back-to-back performances on the board and have that consistency back here and start the summer well for our team, that is what I was more proud of myself for.”
“Yeah, 100% I was aware of it in the past. You grow up knowing what those milestones are. Forever you talk about Donald Bradman. I remember Michael Clarke at the SCG declared on 329 not out. They’re things that you look at the history books and say, ‘how did they get there – that’s a long time in the middle’. I managed to go out there and do that but it takes an incredible amount of patience which I surprised myself.”
“It’s not by chance that I’ve actually tightened all that up, I’ve actually been working really hard on it in the nets, it’s one of those things where I’m a very confident person, whether I scored these runs or didn’t score these runs, I still hold my head up high and have that little smirk on my face that I always have,” Warner added.
