David Warner has scored a century* to help Australia defeat Pakistan at the cricket World Cup before revealing he struggled to get out of bed last year amid fears he would never play for Australia again.
“There was always that (fear) going through my mind,” Warner said referring to the effects of the 12-month ban imposed on him for his role in the ball tampering* incident in South Africa.
“That’s what drove me to keep being as fit as I can and to keep scoring as many runs as I can in the Twenty20 tournaments that I was playing in.
“I was always coming back to international cricket if selected.”
Warner’s 15th One Day International century was marked with his trademark* sprint and leap into the air in Taunton, England. It was his first hundred in Australian colours since his ban.
Warner, 32, kissed the Australian badge on his helmet and then shared a long and emotional hug with teammate Shaun Marsh.
“To come out here and play the way I know I can play was awesome,” Warner said.
“I was elated*. It was a bit of relief in a way, but I still think I left a lot out there.”
Warner finished on 107 runs as Australia defeated Pakistan by 41 runs.
Almost halfway through the tournament, Australia is on track for the semi-finals, along with England, New Zealand and India.
GLOSSARY
- century: 100 runs in cricket
- ball-tampering: altering the ball illegally
- trademark: something you are known for
- elated: overjoyed
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- How many runs did David Warner score?
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CLASSROOM ACTIVITY
With a partner see if you can identify all the doing words/verbs in this text. Highlight them in yellow and then make a list of them all down your page. Now see if you and your partner can come up with a synonym for the chosen verb. Make sure it still makes sense in the context it was taken from.
Try to replace some of the original verbs with your synonyms and discuss if any are better and why.
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