David Warner’s style irreplaceable, says chief selector George Bailey

They will go down as two enormous achievements, becoming the 14th Australian with 100 Tests and the eighth with 8000 runs, should he get there.

But as Bailey suggested, one of Warner’s most imposing statistics is his strike rate. Of the 15 Australian batsmen who have scored 6000 runs or more, Warner is all out on his own as the fastest scorer in Australian cricket among that upper echelon, with a strike rate of 71 runs per hundred balls.

Next is Matthew Hayden (60), Don Bradman and Ricky Ponting (59), Michael Clarke (56), Steve Smith and Justin Langer (54), Mark Waugh and Greg Chappell (52) and Mike Hussey (50).

Warner’s biggest problem this summer has been a failure to put away innocuous wide balls he would usually thrash through the covers. Three times in a row against a modest West Indian attack Warner was out to deliveries which are usually his bread and butter.

So while his fellow batsmen cashed in, Warner had a top score of 48 and a batting average of 25.5 for the two-Test series. This compares with Marnus Labuschage (highest score 204, average 167), Travis Head (175, 156), Steve Smith (200 not out, 128) and Usman Khawaja (65, 45).

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Bailey is correct when says Warner doesn’t look out of form, he just keeps failing to cash in on opportunities.

“I think there’s runs around the corner for him,” Bailey said. “He’s moving well. He’s catching well. When people start to go – for want of a better way to put it – it’s the catching that goes, the movement goes.

“But he’s still an outstanding fielder, still fit as a fiddle. I think no doubt, and David would be the first to say this, he’d like a few more runs and to be contributing a bit more knowing the importance of that role at the top of the order. But I have full confidence that will come.”