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I’m not a big Warner fan, but I have kind of warmed up to him the past few years for a couple reasons:

1. I think he has genuinely grown in terms of his on field behaviour, some of his actions are a bit cringe, but there a long way off from the obnoxious campaigner act he used to do.

2. He cops it far more than he deserves. Yes he can be a bit of a prick and he has made some big errors. So was Langer, Hayden, Mark Waugh, Warne etc. but Warner cops it far more than any of those guys. Particularly in regards to sandpaper (which he is still being punished for mind you), he received the biggest punishment of anyone, far above what any other player has received, yet he still isn’t able to move on in the eyes of the media?

3. Yes he’s a flat track bully at times, but so were a lot of greats (Ponting averaged 42 and 26 in England and India respectively), he’s still in the conversation for our best 11 in all three formats of the game. He’s scored 18,477 runs for his country and made 49 centuries. He’s won three world cups (2 one day, 1 T20) and been a huge part of all 3. He’s won the WTC and been a part of 3 winning Ashes series and 2 retainments in England. Yet he’s rarely given the credit he deserves which I think is sad.

4. If we’re picking our best 11, he’s simply in it. I get the idea that we should have used this series to develop his replacement and that’s fair, but you can’t say that our best team does not have Warner in it. Yet people have continually acted as if he’s being gifted games.