- Signed for London Spirit ahead of The Hundred competition
- Snapped up for $247,000 in Wednesday’s official draft
- Fellow Aussie Steve Smith will turn out for Welsh Fire
The irrepressible David Warner is going back to Lord’s as the star signing for the London Spirit team in The Hundred at the age of 38 – just two years since his infamous clash with MCC members at the ‘home of cricket’.
Warner will make a lucrative debut in England’s premier white-ball competition after being snapped up by the Lord’s-based Spirit for $247,000 in Wednesday’s draft.
After his retirement from the international arena, the evergreen left-hander’s recruitment demonstrated his enduring star power as a host of the big names in the current Australia white-ball team all were overlooked.
There were no takers for superstar allrounder Glenn Maxwell, the country’s top white-ball spinner Adam Zampa, Sean Abbott nor Nathan Ellis, all of whom were at the recent Champions Trophy and were in the same price bracket as Warner.
Warner’s signing was the big news of the draft, even if it was perhaps somewhat of a surprise after he couldn’t find a team interested in 2024.
Yet he’s clearly considered a valuable asset by Spirit’s incoming coach Justin Langer, another former left-hand opener who was close to Warner when in charge of the national team.
Aussie cricketer David Warner is going back to Lord’s as the star signing for London Spirit ahead of The Hundred (pictured, with wife Candice)
It comes just two years since Warner’s infamous clash with MCC members at the ‘home of cricket’ during an Ashes Test
Warner will be returning to the dramatic scene of the 2023 Test match at Lord’s when he was involved in the infamous lunchtime bust-up with Marylebone Cricket Club members in the Long Room following the controversy surrounding Alex Carey’s stumping of Jonny Bairstow.
The MCC ended up expelling one member and suspending two others after their altercation with Usman Khawaja and Warner amid unprecedented scenes after the anger sparked over the Carey-Bairstow incident.
The members were all found to have used ‘abusive, offensive or inappropriate behaviour or language’, with one member given a four-and-a-half-year suspension and the other serving 30 months.
In perhaps a sign of the times in the women’s draft, there was also no place for Alyssa Healy, while the first player to be snapped up – by Edgbaston-based Birmingham Phoenix – was her 21-year-old compatriot Georgia Voll, who’s been brilliant filling in as opener while the national captain has been out injured.
Voll’s also just come off a spectacular spell at the Women’s Premier League in India where, in just a week for UP Warriorz after a late call-up as an injury replacement, she ended up recording the equal highest score in WPL annals – 99 not out – against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Lucknow.
It felt like a surprise 34-year-old Healy was overlooked at her base price of $103,000 but Voll was elevated to the top women’s bracket of $134,000 to end her landmark week.
The other Aussie men snapped up in the draft were Ashton Turner, who will team up with Warner at the Spirit, all-rounder Chris Green and paceman Riley Meredith, who are on the books of Cardiff-based Welsh Fire, and left-arm quick Jason Behrendorff, who will look to boost Oval Invincibles’ title defence.
Big name Australian stars already signed up for the competition include Steve Smith at Welsh Fire and Ellyse Perry alongside Voll in Birmingham.
