Cricket World Cup: David Warner makes no apologies for ‘arrogant’ approach
DAVID Warner admits it might sound arrogant, but he’s not scared of any bowlers at the World Cup because he’s already “taken most of them down”.
Cricket
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AUSTRALIAN firebrand David Warner has invited opposition teams to read what they want into his modest one-day record, because he’s ready to destroy all comers at his home World Cup.
It’s one of the great anomalies of modern-day cricket that Warner has failed to dominate the 50-over game as he has the other two formats.
Warner averages nearly 50 in Tests, with 12 hundreds from 36 matches and in the Twenty20 format where he first cut his teeth as an international force, the 28-year-old is without peer.
But in 50 ODIs, Warner averages just 31.40 and his two hundreds came nearly three years ago.
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Warner’s chequered one-day history includes being left out of the last World Cup, being stood down from the 2013 Champions Trophy after punching Joe Root in a Birmingham nightclub and then being dropped from the side altogether a short time later.
But Warner is never one to take a backward step.
The explosive opener declared he fears no one a month out from the World Cup and makes no apology if he comes across as arrogant for saying so.
Warner points to his treatment of South African spearhead Dale Steyn as an example of his proven track record for taking down the best.
“There’s no bowler in the world that I’m scared of,” said Warner.
“I’ll be arrogant and say I have taken most of them down.
“Dale Steyn is a very good one-day bowler, a very good Twenty20 bowler, and he’s one bowler I try and take on.”
Warner says he’s come unstuck switching between formats in the past because he’s felt the urge to go harder with his striking and in his own words, “batted like a cowboy.”
But after blitzing India with three hundreds at a strike rate of nearly 80 this summer, Warner is reminding himself he doesn’t need to go any harder than that with the white ball.
“I was horrible when I first started (one-day cricket). Last year I played Twenty20 cricket and then came back out and batted like a cowboy in the Boxing Day Test,” he said.
“It was not my ability to play the game, it was my head thinking, ‘I want to hit every ball out of the park’.
“Leading into this World Cup we’ve got a tri-series which is going to be fantastic and there’s going to be no excuses because there’s going to be a lot of games to get ready.
“It’s about me trying to bat the way I do and not go after every ball.
“You’ve got two brand new white balls so it’s quite tough in the first 10 overs.
“You can make a lot of runs in those first 10 if you get your eye in, but my priority is to try and bat for long periods of time.”
Alongside fellow opener Aaron Finch and No.3 Shane Watson, Warner believes Australia boast the most destructive top order of all teams contending the World Cup.
However, he acknowledges that firepower can also be a double-edged sword.
If he, Finch and Watson go down swinging in the opening exchanges, it can put Australia on the back foot.
“It can work both ways. You can be two or three for none if you go about it in a different way,” said Warner, who hopes to play either South Africa or England in the World Cup final.
“Other teams probably look at us and go, ‘these guys are the ones at the top of the order we have got to get out. We know how dangerous they can be if they’re in there at 35-40 overs’.
“That’s our job as a top four – one if not two of us has to bat deep and make a big hundred.”
Warner says the pace and bounce of Australian wickets as well as the big boundaries square of the wicket will suit the home side when the showpiece tournament kicks off on February 14.
Fast bowler Josh Hazlewood believes Australia takes in a major advantage.
“I think the subcontinent teams will struggle with the bounce,” he said.
“I think bounce is the key.”
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