Australia opener David Warner marked his return from elbow injury with a blistering century in a Sydney club match on Saturday, 9 March. Warner smashed a belligerent 110 off 77 balls – an innings that contained four fours and seven sixes – for Randwick-Petersham against Penrith.

[breakout id=”0″][/breakout]

Warner, who is currently serving the last remaining days of his year-long ban for ball-tampering, had returned home early from the 2018-19 Bangladesh Premier League, alongside the also-banned Steve Smith, as both batsmen underwent elbow surgeries.

While Smith is believed to be a little behind Warner on the road to recovery, Warner came good on his earlier promise, having declared his intention to play grade cricket in Sydney to become match-ready ahead of his national comeback.

 

Both Warner and Smith have been left out of Australia’s tour of the United Arab Emirates for a five-match one-day international series against Pakistan, with Trevor Hohns, the chairman of selectors, hinting that the Indian Premier League would be the way back for both batsmen into the national side.

[breakout id=”1″][/breakout]

An in-form Warner now adds further to Australia’s selection conundrum, as they ponder final combinations for the World Cup. While Warner would usually seamlessly slot in at the top of the order, there is the current limited-overs captain Aaron Finch, who ended a poor run of form with 93 against India in Ranchi, and Usman Khawaja, who struck his maiden ODI century in the same match, currently holding down the two openers’ spots.

While Australia find a way to reintegrate Warner and Smith, who recently returned to the nets, into the one-day unit, Shane Warne, the former leg-spinner, felt both batsmen would add immense utility to the side when they come back. Warne, in fact, picked Warner to be the player of the tournament at the World Cup.

[caption id=”attachment_100272″ align=”alignnone” width=”850″]Warner's 77-ball 110 featured four fours and seven sixes Warner’s 77-ball 110 featured four fours and seven sixes [/caption]

“I think what you are going to see is a pretty quiet David Warner and Steve Smith. They are just going to try and let their bat do the talking and toe the line,” Warne told The Telegraph.

“I think they will come back better than they were. They’re going to come out and destroy attacks, and I back David Warner to be the player of the World Cup.

“Warner overstepped the line a lot in his early career. He then changed into a more placid player, but was then told by Cricket Australia to be the enforcer and was doing what he was told.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BubKVz4hB2H/?utm_source=ig_twitter_share&igshid=t7jxah5nqt1q

Warne reflected back on his own time away from the Australian team, when he spent a year out, missing the 2003 World Cup that Australia won, for taking a banned substance. Warne opined that the time off would have helped gain fresh perspective and added to the players’ hunger to perform.

“All I can go on is experience having a year off myself. The next four years were the best I ever had,” Warne said. “I was hungry for the game. My body and mind were fresh, and it is amazing how excited you are to play again. You get excited just going to the nets again because you have taken it for granted in the past.”

Related tags:

Shane WarneDavid Warner