David Warner injury update: David Warner did not field on Day 3 after suffering an injury while batting on Day 2 of first Ashes Test.
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After a dominating display of batting by the Aussies on Day 2 of the first Ashes Test at The Gabba in Brisbane, the English batters, taking full advantage of a beautiful batting deck, turned the tables to claw their way back handsomely on Day 3.
Earlier in the day, Australia managed to stretch their lead from 196 at the end of Day 2, to 278 after batting for just under two hours to end their first innings at 425/10. Travis Head (152 off 148), was the last batter to be dismissed after putting on a stellar display of batsmanship in the first innings.
England in reply, having lost Rory Burns (13 off 27) and Haseeb Hamed (27 off 58) with mere 61 runs on the board were in some spot of bother, but skipper Joe Root (86* off 158) and Southpaw David Malan (80 off 177) rose on to the occasion and continued to bat defiantly till stumps on Day 3 adding together a total of 159* runs to take the English total to 220/2 with just a 58 run deficit before they set a target.
Joe Root raises the bat, England’s first fifty of the #Ashes series pic.twitter.com/yBj8s6gUaB
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 10, 2021
To add to the Aussie woes, their opening batter David Warner was not seen on the field the entirety of Day 3 after going through an injury scare.
David Warner injury update: Has David Warner been ruled out of The Gabba Test?
Warner did not take to the field at all on Friday (Day 3) having suffered severe bruising to his ribs after being struck two nasty blows while batting on day 2 when he made an important 94 in Australia’s first innings.
A short ball from Ben Stokes at an individual score of 26 targeted at the ribs, followed by yet another blow at the similar spot by speedster Mark Wood later in his innings meant Warner had to be sent for scans later in the day.
The fact that he did not take the field for the entirety of Day 3, did raise some suspicions, but the good news for him and his fans is that those scans showed no break of ribs.
There is no official word on his present condition, apart that the Australian camp expect him to bat in their second innings despite the clear discomfort. Cameras spotted him resting in the rooms with what appeared to be an ice pack on his right ribcage.
With England batting the way they are at the moment, the 35-year-old might well have to make another contribution with the bat, and it remains to be seen if he is sent to open or not.
Former Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting expressed his concern after noticing Warner’s state on Day 3. “It’s a worry that he’s not out there at all,” Ponting told cricket.com.au on Friday. “We’ll have a better idea when he bats or if he bats at all in the second innings.
“I noticed that after he got hit, he came out after one of the breaks and you could see that he had a little (chest) guard over that area.
“I got a bit worried about it then because I’ve never seen him with a chest guard on before.
“Even if it’s just bruising, I would think that he’d be out there fielding so there might be a bit more to it than what we’re hearing,” Ponting further remarked.
