Warner breaks 1089-day drought with century

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He becomes only the second Aussie to score a ton in his 100th Test match, matching a feat by Ricky Ponting in 2006.

Warner was visibly emotional when he hit Kagiso Rabada to the boundary of the MCG to bring up his century, while his wife Candice was wiping away tears in the grandstand.

Fox Cricket commentator Mark Howard labelled Warner Australia’s “ultimate fighter”, while Kiwi great Ian Smith called it “fairytale stuff”.

There has been plenty of speculation in recent weeks around the veteran’s future in Test cricket, given his age and how badly he has struggled to make big scores in recent months.

But his wife knew a century was just around the corner.

“For him to do it with his back against the wall means even more,” Candice told Fox Cricket.

“You would think by now writing David off is probably the wrong thing to do. He thrives on that, and you’ve seen today the class batsman that he is.”

Warner has had a rough month away from the field, too.

He sensationally withdrew an application to have his lifetime leadership ban overturned, and took aim at the counsel assisting a Cricket Australia independent panel for “offensive” remarks during a hearing.

And earlier this month, Candice revealed vile abuse she received from members of the Adelaide Oval crowd.

”It’s been incredibly tough, and people don’t take those things into consideration,” Candice said.

“He never uses it as an excuse, he uses it as motivation.”

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