Australia batsman David Warner, was immensely satisfied with his knock of 107 against Pakistan, which powered his side to a 41-run victory in Taunton on Wednesday.
After being criticized for his slow-paced innings against India, Warner came back in flying colours as he registered his 15th one-day international hundred, his third consecutive against Pakistan, on Wednesday. The left-hander, who has now scored 255 runs in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 so far, second only to Shakib Al Hasan’s tally of 260, reflected on what went right for him during his 111-ball stay at the crease.
“[The hundred] obviously was a long time coming,” Warner said. “Against Afghanistan I felt like I had no rhythm. In the next game [West Indies], obviously, got one that sort of kicked off a wicket, but I was a bit lazy. And in the last game [India] they bowled really straight to me. But to come out here and play the way that I know I can play was awesome.”
Warner said that assessing the two-paced nature of the wicket early on, helped him employ right tactics with the bat during the course of his innings.
“I thought that the wicket was going to be sort of like a Test match battle. And, yes, they were a tad too short or a tad too full. And it allowed us to sort of free our arms a little bit. And we knew that they had to get 10 overs out of [Shoaib] Malik and [Mohammad] Hafeez. So it was a bit of a target point there as well.”
The left-hander admitted that it was difficult to face Mohammad Amir, who finished with figures of 5/30 in his 10 overs. “Look he’s a world class bowler. When he’s swinging it is very difficult to try and get on top of him and then when it’s seaming and swinging, it’s even harder.
“So as I said before, you really got to have that mentality of Test match approach, keeping nice tight defense for me looking to score. I tried my best to try and see him out but to try and rotate strike is very difficult on a wicket that offered something for the ball, which I think is fantastic for one-day cricket.”
The 32-year old further emphasized the importance of fitness at the biggest stage. “For myself it was obviously getting back to the normal routine of training, high intensity. Our fitness levels have to be spot on when you’re in this Australian cricket team,” he concluded.
