On Sunday, Australia’s men will play in their second T20 World Cup final; the first came back in 2010 when they fell short against England.
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Two players from the side that finished runners-up in Bridgetown remain in the current Australia set-up: Steve Smith and David Warner.
While the former has had a quiet tournament so far in the middle order, the latter has been triumphant up top: a 42-ball 65 against Sri Lanka included 10 fours; a 56-ball 89* against West Indies took Australia to the semi-finals; and a 30-ball 49 set up a remarkable win over Pakistan. After six knocks, Warner has 236 runs at an average of 47.20 and strike rate of 148.42 – only Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Jos Buttler have made more runs in tournament.
This is already, by some distance, Warner’s finest T20 World Cup campaign ever. Despite being widely regarded as one of the greatest batters in the history of T20 cricket, Warner had never been able to properly fire in this tournament; his previous five campaigns had returned an average of 21.50 and strike rate below 130, a substantial dip from his career record. The nadir was at the 2016 tournament in India, where four knocks resulted in 38 runs and a high score of 17.
Warner’s returns are made all the more remarkable by the fact that he entered the tournament with serious question marks over his form. Previously a beacon of incredible consistency at Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL – he averaged 52.31 across 87 matches from 2014 to 2020 – Warner endured a slump in his most recent stint at the franchise, averaging 24.37 across eight knocks in the 2021 season while striking at 107.73. He lost the captaincy and his place in the side.
In regards to T20Is, prior to the World Cup Warner hadn’t play in the shortest form for Australia since September 2020. But it’s worth exploring his numbers in the format since his return from the sandpapergate ban: 17 T20I knocks since October 2019 have resulted in 709 runs at a monumental average of 70.90 and strike rate of 141.51. While much of that is down to a flurry of runs in late 2019, Warner still managed to average 46.50 in 2020, moving to 47.40 so far in 2021. He has remained a consistent force for Australia.
As he now prepares for his second T20 World Cup final, it seems Warner has found his rhythm at the perfect moment. In Bridgetown, he was only able to deliver a score of 2 before he was run out by Michael Lumb. What will Dubai in 2021 bring?
