Mid-Wicket
Reports of his bad form are greatly exaggerated, insists David Warner, though the opener did reveal he and other Australian batters have resorted to training on polished concrete during their T20 World Cup tilt in the Middle East.
At the suggestion of his batting mentor Trent Woodhill, Warner has been practicing on synthetic and concrete wickets in a bid to sharpen his footwork in readiness for Thursday’s clash with a Sri Lankan side boasting a pair of speedsters in Lahiru Kumara and Dushmantha Chameera.
Sri Lanka may still be having nightmares about Warner’s most recent T20 Internationals against them, having failed to dismiss the opener in their three T20Is in Australia in 2019 when he blazed scores of 100no, 60no and 57no.
Both he and opening partner Aaron Finch have batted against ‘wangers’ (a throwing tool used by coaches) on a polished concrete practice surface in Dubai which balls skid off from at great pace.
That will help simulate the extra pace of Chameera and Kumara; the former has been clocked above 150kph during this tournament while Kumara, who got into a fiery exchange in Sri Lanka’s win over Bangladesh earlier this week that saw him docked a quarter of his match fee by the ICC, bowls above 140kph…