David Warner has emerged as one of the best slip fielders in the last three years, to both pace and spin, irrespective of whether runs are coming off his bat or not; he was key in the fielding department when Australia retained the 2019 Ashes in England even though he had a horror tour with the bat.
Warner’s exceptional reflexes, sharp presence of mind and athleticism as a fielder were all on display during the dismissal of Sri Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne on Day 1 of the first Galle Test, on Wednesday.
David Warner pulled off a screamer at Galle.
Karunaratne, who is amongst the very solid Test openers currently, had dug in and settled down on a tricky, turning, gripping surface in Galle and was battling hard against the Aussie spin duo of Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Swepson.
He had ground in for 83 balls for his 28 runs and had been stoic despite Lyon troubling him a lot. Finally, Lyon had his man, but it was down to a great one-handed catch from Warner.
Lyon continued from his round the wicket angle and the ball straightened off after pitching on the middle. Karunaratne wasn’t fully committed on the front foot and looked to defend but couldn’t get entirely inside the line and managed an inside edge onto his pads.
The ball lobbed up in the air, and everyone around – the keeper, bowler, silly point, first slip – went up for the lbw appeal, but David Warner, who was positioned at second slip. Bringing his quick reflex into play and his superb presence of mind, Warner dove forward with a full stretched body and took the catch with his left hand and celebrated it promptly knowing well and full that the batter had edged the ball.
You can watch the video here:
Everyone went up for LBW.. David Warner kept his eye on the prize and took an absolute ripper! #SLvAUS pic.twitter.com/f7cdguPs39
— Chloe-Amanda Bailey (@ChloeAmandaB) June 29, 2022
Umpire Kumar Dharmasena was convinced that there was an inside-edged and only confirmed with the third umpire about the legality of the catch. The third ump needed only one look to confirm that Warner had taken a clean catch. Karunaratne’s wicket was big one for Australia as the Sri Lankan skipper was set.
