David Warner aims for Adelaide with new treatment

David Warner is confident of playing Boxing Day if not before and is seeking a range of new age treatments to assist his return

David Warner is helped by teammates Pat Cummins, left, and Josh Hazlewood after he injured his groin during the second ODI against India on Sunday Picture: AFP

The David Warner shaped hole in Australian cricket may not be there for as long as feared.

Warner is getting a wide range of daily treatments in the hope he can make his way back for the first match in Adelaide on December 17. It is a race against the clock and a more realistic time line has him ready to make his return for the Boxing Day Test at the MCG.

There were concerns the opener had torn the muscle from the bone in a fielding mishap at the SCG on Friday night but the injury is not that bad.

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Warner is using a chiropractor to assist his treatment, spending time in a hyperbaric chamber and getting cutting edge treatment known as ‘spot cryo’ which involves freezing an isolated area for five to 10 minutes. It is difficult to apply ice or heat to a groin injury, but a pen like device allows for more precise treatment.

Australian batsman Joe Burns says his opening partner is doing all he can to be fit for the series.

“Knowing Dave, he‘s a highly professional athlete, so he’s doing everything he can to recover and be available,” Burns said. “I’m not sure about the actual injury or the timeframes.

“I know Dave‘s living in a hyperbaric chamber at the moment, so it shows how much he wants to get fit and get out there. At the same time we have to make sure we’re ready regardless of what the situation is and make sure that come that first Test the 11 guys out on the field are ready to play a Test match for Australia.

“It‘s a huge blow if Dave’s not there, if he is then great, but we have to prepare either way.“

Burns has at least had the public pressure of competing with Will Pucovski for a place in the first game eased, but he is more aware than anybody of the importance of Warner and the importance of the relationship they have at the top of order.

“We know our games really well and I think our games complement each other. When we are batting together I feel like we read the game really well, we know when there’s opportunities to take it to bowling attacks but we also realise when their are key moments and we have to knuckle down and get through,” Burns said.

“What we’ve always done really well and what we’re proud of doing is winning a lot of key moments for the team, for Australia sometimes it’s the first session of a Test match, sometimes the 20 minutes after a lunch break and identifying when key bowlers are on.

“At the same time I know when he is getting bogged down by a bowler and there’s opportunity for me to score off them we will take those opportunities.

“That’s how you bounce off your opening partner, work together to put pressure back on a bowling attack and that’s something that whoever I am batting with or whoever is playing they need to get those combinations.”

Burns is in Sydney preparing for Sunday’s Australia A game against India A with Pucovski and Marcus Harris.

“Weeks like this - the training in the nets together, the Australia A game batting together - provides an opportunity to form those new relationships, especially with young guys who we haven‘t all had a great chance to bat a lot with to get to a point where me and Davey get to the crease and are so confident in each other’s games that we can bounce off each other.”

If Burns and Pucovski open in Adelaide it will be the first time in over two decades Australia has had a right handed pair at the top of the order. Michael Slater and Greg Blewett in March 2000. There have been 33 combinations since and Warner has been part of a third of them.

Burns denied he was feeling any pressure on his place despite a poor return in the Shield this summer. The Queenslander has scores of 7, 29, 0, 10, 11 from three matches while Pucovski - who was gunning for his spot before the Warner injury - bagged a pair of double centuries for Victoria.

“I understand how people might make that assumption around selection, but as players our mindset is never - you never walk to the crease worrying about how runs you make or your partner is making,” he said. “It’s never a bat off or anything like that, it‘s all about going out there and doing your job with your partner and trying to win games of cricket.”