David Warner statue question emerges after fairytale farewell at the SCG
With talks about a statues being added to the SCG arena, should David Warner's name be up there?
OPINION
During the lunch break on day two of the Sydney Test, Fox Cricket posed the question as to whether Mark Waugh deserved a statue at the SCG. It was a touch tongue-in-cheek but host Mark Howard pointed out Waugh was a born entertainer who put bums on seats and had the cricket stats to back it all up.
When asked his opinion, Kerry O'Keeffe joked: "I think his best chance is to dress in a grey suit, grey shirt, grey tie and walk through the gates and just stand there stiff as a board." Former England skipper Michael Vaughan added with a laugh: "You can’t have two family members with statues at the same venue and he didn't captain his country – end of debate."
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Four cricketers - Steve Waugh, Richie Benaud, Stan McCabe and Fred Spofforth – are immortalised in bronze as part of the SCG Sports Sculptures project. So, what chance the man of the moment – retired Australian opener David Warner – one day joining them, frozen forever in his trademark "Toyota leap" after scoring a ton?
Before the trolls come at us with their pitchforks, let's look at the bare facts. Warner, who grew up just down the road from the SCG, scored 884 runs on his home ground at an average of 49.11, scoring four centuries along the way.
That puts him ninth on the all-time SCG run scorers' chart, behind only Steve Smith and Doug Walters in the pecking order of NSW's Australian representatives (leaving out Allan Border, who moved to Queensland early in his career).
Warner also finishes his time in the baggy green as our greatest opener. His 8,786 runs at the top of the order eclipses Matthew Hayden, Mark Taylor and Michael Slater.
And his run tally places him fifth on Australia's all-time run-scorers' list. He also enjoyed plenty of success in white ball cricket at the SCG, cracking three ODI centuries.
David Warner thanks SCG for fairytale farewell
As far as entertainment value goes, Warner is serious box office and a player people stop to watch. And despite being a polarising figure throughout his career, there is genuine affection for the opener.
It was all on show during his emotional farewell Test. "I've had a lot of ups and downs through my career. I’ve had to come back and overcome adversity. I think I’ve done that very, very well, and I think it’s been well received from a lot of people," Warner said at the end of the game.
"Today just showed to me that I do have a lot of support and I am grateful and thankful for that." Of course, Warner has just as many haters as he does admirers and will forever have the dark spectre of Sandpapergate hovering over him.
And the mere thought of him being honoured, years down the track, with a statue at Australian cricket's most historic venue will have the critics frothing at the mouth. But it doesn't mean it won’t happen one day.
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