Warner’s hit for critics as special training revealed
To get back into form at the T20 World Cup, Australian top-order batsman David Warner has gone to special and extreme lengths in Dubai.
Australian opener David Warner has revealed he has been practising on synthetic and polished cricket pitches at the T20 World Cup to get his feet moving, declaring he “laughed” at people questioning his form.
Warner, who turned 35 on Wednesday, has been in the gun after poor returns in first the Indian Premier League, where he only batted twice, then scores of a duck and one in warm-up matches.
The ever-confident left-hander said he found it “quite funny” there was any talk about his form, given his lack of cricket, having now batted just five times in games since April.
But after a message from his Australian-based batting coach Trent Woodhill, to avoid batting on “low and slow” practice wickets, Warner made the move to the alternate pitches to help get his feet “dancing”.
Australian captain Aaron Finch has also joined practice away from traditional wickets, facing “wangers” so the ball bounces better than on practice pitches.
And after scoring 14 in the opening World Cup win over South Africa, Warner was confident he’d found his “benchmark” again.
“I brought it up with our batting coach and actually my batting coach at home, Trent Woodhill, flicked me a text and told me to get back on the syntho (synthetic pitches) to get my feet moving. It’s something I have done at home before,” Warner said from Dubai.
“These practice wickets have been up and about for 12 weeks. Training on them is difficult. It’s very hard; when you are not getting time in the middle … you have to try and make the most of training and that’s quite difficult.
“I’m training on some synthetic wickets and polished concrete to get timing and rhythm and moving my feet and that’s helping me.
“You want to feel bat on ball, to feel good, but it also makes you move your feet a little bit more.”
Warner, who said he forgot he was turning 35 he feels so fit, dismissed out of hand talk about his below average lead-in to the World Cup.
“I actually think people talking about my form is quite funny; I laugh at the matter,” he said.
“I’ve played hardly any cricket, at the IPL I had two games, then we wanted to give all the other youngsters a crack. Then warm-up games – they are warm-up games for a reason. The other day I got my benchmark for where I should be at with my feet.”
Warner said he was “dancing and moving” as he hit three boundaries in his 15-ball innings against the Proteas, and that the signs were good heading into Australia’s match against Sri Lanka on Friday.
“You can’t control how you get out. But if you get out to shots you wouldn’t play, these are the things you look for; signs you are out of form,” he said.
“The way I got out the other day … that’s how I used to get out all the time. I should have played that over the top, and I didn’t.
“That’s a thing for me to look at; my feet were moving, I got into great positions, but my awareness should have been to go with it.
“I feel like I am in a good space. I couldn’t be any more ready to go. I felt I was one boundary away from having a good innings.
“My feet were dancing and moving.”
Cricket journalist dumped by SEN over social media posts
Veteran broadcaster and former cricket writer at The Australian Peter Lalor has been dumped by SEN over “differing views” on conflict in the Middle East.
From the scrap heap to the top: Head’s road to AB Medal
There have been plenty of setbacks in Travis Head’s career, but he has ascended to three-format superstar. He talks to DANIEL CHERNY about the road to the top.