David Warner poised to make triumphant return after mid-tournament birth of third child

Three sleep-deprived nights spent in London after the birth of his third daughter won’t slow down Australia’s powerhouse opener David Warner.

• Aussies' Ashes nemesis Anderson injured
• How Maxwell woke up a sleeping force
• Real reason Aussies left ODI gun behind
• Women’s Ashes: first blood to Australia

David Warner’s history of skipping training between games will help the opener maintain his crushing form when he rejoins Australia in Manchester on Thursday.

Warner, 32, spent three sleep-deprived nights in London after wife Candice gave birth to their third daughter, Isla Rose, on Sunday night.

“He'll be okay. He's got two kids so he doesn't get much sleep anyway,” assistant coach Brad Haddin said.

“The thing with Davey's cricket is that he doesn't hit much during a tournament anyway.

David Warner has led Australia’s runscoring this campaign. Picture: AFP

“He does a lot of his volume at the start of a campaign and he's done that.

“It's only about making sure he's fresh and ready to go. We've got a long turnaround, which we're lucky about, it's worked in our favour.

“From a cricket point of view, he doesn't actually need to hit any balls.”

Haddin said Warner was due to travel from London to Manchester on Wednesday, UK time. Australia will relinquish first place on the World Cup ladder if India defeats Sri Lanka on Saturday, but can reclaim it three hours later.

LISTEN UP: Menners and Sam Landsberger chew the fat about all things Cricket World Cup as we approach the business end of things.

Stream above or search Cricket Unfiltered on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts from and subscribe.

The Aussies play South Africa in the day-night clash and finishing first would ensure they stay in Manchester for the first semi-final, saving a travel day and delivering a longer break into the final should they advance.

Warner’s 516 runs this World Cup has dropped to No.3, overtaken by Indian opener Rohit Sharma (544) and Bangladesh superstar Shakib Al-Hasan (542), who has also taken 11 wickets.

Warner (L) and Aaron Finch have been the tournament’s most productive opening pairing. Picture: Getty

Haddin said Warner had matured both on and off the field, with his new-found batting gears boosting his average at the expense of his strike-rate.

“He is still that match winner that he was in 2015,” Haddin said.

“What he is doing now is he’s batting in situations better.

“He's got more gears. When we've needed to accelerate he got a big hundred, and there have been times he's needed to control the situation and bat deeper.

“He's starting to understand how to bat better situations.”

Originally published as David Warner poised to make triumphant return after mid-tournament birth of third child