For a man in search of a new identity, David Warner is taking things in his stride.
After making 166 for Australia against Bangladesh at Trent Bridge on Thursday, the batsman formerly known as the Bull, then the Reverend, then the Bull again, admitted with a smile that his team-mates had a new nickname for him: 'Humble'.
It's probably just as well. Warner arrived in this country a marked man after his year on the naughty step.
David Warner celebrates as he reaches a hundred on his way to 166 for Australia last week
If Steve Smith is in the same category following Australia's sandpaper shenanigans in Cape Town in March 2018, it is Warner — regarded by the English public as the less likable — who has attracted more vitriol. Humility seems like a sensible ploy in the circumstances.
But it is one of the curiosities of this multi-faceted character that, despite a reputation for recklessness, he has not responded to the catcalls by lashing out.
On the contrary, his batting — especially in the 10-over powerplay — has lacked its usual edge. His strike-rate at this World Cup has been 87, which is decent but, by his standards, not devastating — so much so that people are asking where the real Warner has gone.
And yet Warner Mk IV, who also made a century against Pakistan, finds himself as the tournament's leading runscorer, with 447 at an average of 89. It is the kind of identity crisis for which most players would happily trade their favourite bat.
One school of thought likens his situation to that of Ben Stokes, and argues that both are keen to prove how responsible they can be after high-profile disciplinary issues.
Warner kisses the Australian badge on his helmet after scoring his second World Cup ton
Just as Stokes's one-day strike-rate has fallen since he returned from post-Bristol purdah, so Warner, goes the argument, wants to show there is more to his game than a slog and a sledge.
That is a caricature, of
