Boxing Day Test: Australian opener David Warner not concerned about mini Test form slump

DAVID Warner is a Test star, but he has reached 50 only once at the MCG. He might want to find some time before he goes out to bat on Boxing Day to chat with Ricky Ponting.

DAVID Warner might want to find some time before he goes out to bat on Boxing Day to chat with Ricky Ponting.

The former Aussie captain was an MCG marvel, while Warner is yet make an impact at the Aussie home of cricket.

Going in to his sixth Melbourne Test, Warner averages just a shade under 25 in nine MCG innings, with just one 50.

His want to right that wrong isn’t aided by the fact he’s going through something of a mini-Test slump.

While he has been whacking the white-ball to all parts this year, with two limited overs tons against New Zealand last month and three in his past four innings, his work in white clothes hasn’t been as special.

Opener David Warner enjoys a laugh at the Australian net session at the MCG on Saturday ahead of the Boxing Day Test.

Warner went within a whisker of a century to start the summer, scoring 97 against South Africa in Perth, but that was more the exception than the recent rule.

It was only his second score of more than 50 in his past 17 Test innings, and his last Test century came against the West Indies in January.

He can’t quite put his finger on what isn’t working, but isn’t too worried either.

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“It was the same question you could have asked me 18 months ago with the white ball. It’s a little bit of a cycle,” Warner said this week.

“I go out there every time I bat to put many runs on the board as I can. Same mindset, same process I go through with training.

“At the moment I am hitting them well enough in the nets I’m just not making them in the middle. The tide will change.

“Many players before have experience the same thing. I just have to keep a level head, a cool head, watch every ball as close as I can.”

David Warner after being dismissed in the first Test against Pakistan at the Gabba.

Warner is equally as perplexed as to why he has never been able to perform on Boxing Day, unlike Ponting who scored a century in his second Test innings at the MCG, posted his highest ever score at the ground (257) and averaged more in Melbourne than he did for his career.

But the Aussie opener wasn’t going to spend too much time searching for answers beyond his net sessions.

It’s not what he does, and less so with his family, wife Candice and daughters Ivy and Indi in tow for the annual Christmas cracker.

“I don’t really think about the game too much, to be honest,” Warner said.

“I had Ivy down here last year too. I am fortunate that I have them travel with me all the time. “If they are here or not, it doesn’t play on my mind, the game. I’m happy, I’m having fun, I love what I do. I have my teammate around me who support me, we support everyone.

“You just have to keep calm, back what you do. In the nets I am hitting them well but you have to try and take that out in the field. I want to keep going out there and backing myself. “

Originally published as Boxing Day Test: Australian opener David Warner not concerned about mini Test form slump