Cricket News By TODAYLIVESCORE.INFO - Warner to open in T20 WC, confirms Finch. Warner lost captaincy at SRH earlier in the season.
Warner lost captaincy at SRH earlier in the season.
Despite fetching the axe at Sunrisers Hyderbad in the ongoing IPL due to poor form, there are no question marks over David Warner's spot in the Australian XI according to skipper Aaron Finch.
Warner lost the SRH captaincy and his spot earlier in the season but was included when the tournament resumed in the UAE last month, only to get dropped again following scores of 0 and 2. Apart from that, he hasn't featured for Australia in the shortest format in over a year and opted out of the recent tours to West Indies and Bangladesh.
“Yep, absolutely,” Finch said ahead of Australia's departure when asked if Warner would open alongside him in the T20 WC. “He's one of the best players to ever play the game for Australia. I've got no doubt that his preparation, while he would love to be playing for Hyderabad no doubt, I know that he's still training away. He'll be good to go.”
In terms of being under-prepared for a world tournament, Warner isn't the only player Australia will be concerned about. Finch himself has just recovered from a knee surgery and there were doubts over his participation in the two warm-up games before Australia's opening game on October 23. However, the skipper has confirmed that he is on course to featuring in the two practice games against New Zealand and India.
“When I first had the surgery, it was going to be touch and go for those two (warm-up) games,” Finch said. “But over the last couple of weeks, my recovery has progressed really well so it's looking more and more likely I will be fit and ready to go for those. In terms of the intensity I've been able to train – the accelerations, decelerations, putting load through my knee – that's all looking really positive. I've got no issues that I'll be good for them.”
Only Glenn Maxwell and Josh Hazlewood from Australia's 15-man squad will go into the tournament with games under their belt having featured regularly for their respective IPL teams. But Finch isn't concerned about the lack of game time for the majority of his squad and has zeroed in on the two warm-up matches for the players to find their feet again.
“It's a difficult one – there's quite a few guys who played in Bangladesh and the West Indies,” Finch pointed out. “Training indoors is no comparison to game intensity, so the two warm up games and the lead-in to the World Cup is going to be really crucial. They're going to be really important to get guys up to speed as quick as possible.
“But I've got a lot of confidence in the experience of the group. We've got guys who have come off long layoffs before, we've got guys who have come off long injuries before and it's not that much different when you're trying to get yourself up to speed quickly. I think that will play into our hands and might allow us to be a little more fresher, to be honest.”
