Warner backs patience over power in Boxing Day Test fightback

EGO is a dirty word for Aussie opener David Warner who knows his own Ashes resurgence will come though patience and not looking to plunder the English attacks.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA — DECEMBER 24: David Warner of Australia speaks to media during an Australian nets session at the on December 24, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

EGO is a dirty word for Aussie opener David Warner who knows his own Ashes resurgence will come though patience and not looking to plunder the English attacks.

Warner has been subdued through the three winning Tests so far with his best score, and his only half century in six innings, an 87 not out as he and Cameron Bancroft guided the Aussies to victory in Brisbane.

The normally fluent run scorer has been stifled by English plans which have included defensive fielders from the outset to limit Warner’s capacity to hit the boundary. Warner has hit just 19 fours, compared to skipper Steve Smith’s 48.

But taking a note from his former IPL teammate, swashbuckling Indian opener Virender Sehwag, who once scored 195 off just 233 balls at the MCG, Warner said he would work his way through his issues, and not try and whack his way back.

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David Warner during an Australian nets session on Christmas Eve. Picture: Getty Images

“I’m hitting the ball well. Sometimes you go in the nets and hit the ball as well as you can then you go in to the middle and go searching each delivery,” he said.

“And I feel like my preparation has been fantastic. I go back to Shield cricket (Warner played three games before the Ashes) and we had to be patient. The wickets produced were conducive to fast bowling. We had to leave a lot of balls, bat time, and I feel like I have done that in the middle.

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“I’ve done a lot of batting in the nets and now it is about staying out in the middle and just grinding it out. But it’s about taking my ego out of it and playing each ball on its merits.”

Warner said he was “gutted” to miss out in Perth, scoring just 22 as Smith and then Mitch Marsh went on to make massive centuries, conceding the English plans worked.

David Warner talks tactics to rediscover his form ahead of the Boxing Day Test. Picture: AAP

But the man known as the “Bull” said he knew what was happening and returning to the MCG, where he made his first century (144) in 10 Boxing Day attempts last summer, was confident his runs would come.

“They are trying to get me out the way I got out in Perth, but I have to take my ego out of it, just try hit the ball,” he said.

“But I look back at Virender Sehwag, Australia set the same fields to him, South Africa were the first team to do that, they had third man, two square legs a deep point and he ended up getting out a couple of times.

“But he worked it out himself. So it’s up to me to keep backing my strengths and play my game and the runs will come.”