ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2021

October 28, 2021

David Warner

Dubai International Stadium

Australia

Post Match Media Conference

Australia 155/3, Sri Lanka 154/6

Q. One thing about playing Sri Lanka, you've scored 65, 57, 60 and 100 in your last four innings against Sri Lanka in T20, so do you like playing Sri Lanka that often?

DAVID WARNER: Yeah, look, obviously I don't look at the stats, but sometimes you match up well against different teams, and like tonight I obviously started fresh. Everyone was talking about my form, which I reiterated that's not the thing I'm worried about; it's about going out there and starting well.

Obviously Finchy started well, and yeah, we gelled well together out there, and you've got to apply pressure to the bowlers. That's what I did in my last couple of innings against Sri Lanka also in Australia. You get a bit of a flow-on effect when you're out there.

That's all we're trying to do is apply pressure to the bowlers every time we cap so we can, but yeah, it must just happen. I don't know, I can't answer that any more.

Q. Sri Lanka were going well at 78 for 1, then Zampa came in and just broke the rhythm. Do you think that was the changing point in the game?

DAVID WARNER: Yeah, look, we always know when we play Sri Lanka that when we bowl our fastbowlers, they like to come hard at the fastbowlers. I think that the theory is if you swing hard at the fastbowlers, you can get it out of the middle, it can go fast, you get those little fine nicks.

They stayed nice and still. They hit some balls clean. Then you take the pace off, and obviously big boundaries. In the first six it can happen. They hit the ball cleanly, and then when we took pace off the ball, it was a little bit different.

Zamps has always been very, very good for us during the middle overs. Him coming on and striking pretty much straight away was straight, and breaking their rhythm.

Look, we always knew once we got out of the powerplay it was going to be difficult to hit one side, especially boundaries, and if we could control that area and bowl to that side, you can restrict the total a little bit more. We felt the total that they got tonight was probably around par for this wicket.

Q. Both you and Aaron Finch both were short of runs. I won't say you were out of form but you were short of runs. What sort of discussions did you have in the middle before the start of the innings, and did your innings -- is this a signal towards some of your critics, as well?

DAVID WARNER: It's never like that. I think people who criticize me know exactly what I'm about.

For us it was really important to have a nice stable base, and seeing Finchy play straight down the ground and that nice back cut, that's nice and still. It means you're watching the ball. It means your weight is going through the ball. It's the same process with myself. You've got to have a nice stable base on these wickets.

When people take pace off the ball, you've got to wait for the ball. When there's pace on it, then you can sit on it.

That was the key tonight, and I think he was really stable, hitting the ball back over the bowler is always a very good sign of a player who's in nice touch, and as I said the other day in my press conference at home and for everyone was going back on to synthetic and polished concrete, allowing you to do the basics because these wickets are getting tired at the practice sessions. The curators have done an unbelievable job to have them up for 12 weeks now, but you need to sometimes go back to a little bit of basics and getting bat on ball and just doing your normal drills and get your feet dancing.

I think that's helped, and that's something we'll keep continuing through this World Cup.

Q. Is it shutting the critics down?

DAVID WARNER: Shutting the critics down? No, never. That's the world of sport. When ride the highs you've got to ride the lows; you've got to stay confident, keep a smile on your face and never let it get to you.

Q. Theekshana bowled the second over and you reverse swept him for four. Would you say that was the moment when you sort of knew that tonight is going to be your night? When you're running between the wickets, both you and Finchy were extremely quick, sort of converting the ones and twos as you normally do. Was that the one that set the tone?

DAVID WARNER: Yeah, look, I think I got criticised when I got out to Ashwin in the practice game playing the same spot. That's just what we do. We know which bowlers are bowling what. We know where the fields are. We know how to try and apply pressure, and if comes off, it comes off.

For us it was about when they're coming over the wicket, same as (indiscernible), for me they obviously want their current ball to come straight down the line. For me it's actually a low-risk shot to go with the spin, and because you've only got two outs to protect, you've got to back yourself.

It's a shot that I favour. I find less it's a step -- it's a high-risk shot for me to go aerial on the leg side, and you've got to apply pressure. That's how I pretty much start my innings against spin.

Q. Do you think as the tournament progresses given the nature of the wickets here, running those ones and twos are going to be as important as make the big shots?

DAVID WARNER: I would say a hundred per cent when you're playing on one side of the ground. You saw today that's a big, big boundary, so you'll see a lot of teams, especially with guys that have very fast bowling, they'll use that big boundary and try and defend the short boundary.

As you get closer to the middle, that's when you can back yourself a little bit and you can hit boundaries both sides. But yeah, taking on that one is for the big boys.

Q. I know you always adamant you weren't out of form, but spending time in the middle, how important was that because obviously in the past four or five months you've spent very little time in the middle. What can this do for the rest of your tournament in that sense?

DAVID WARNER: Yeah, look, it was great to get out there in the middle and spend some time there running between wickets. Little things like that just keeps your mind ticking.

When you're in those pressure situations, if we were chasing say 10 an over at that stage there, you've got to train your mind as well not to panic, so they're little things that you'd like to keep up. Obviously in the last sort of six to 12 months we haven't played that much cricket, so I haven't been in those situations too often. It's good to get back out there, get pre-Qs going and identifying that.

Yeah, look, it was great to get out there, get some runs on the board, but most important was the start that we got, me and Finchy, from a batting point of view and then through the middle we were able to just control the innings. It's obviously good and handy to have Smithy out there to run between wickets. We pride ourselves in that, and it allows us to run those twos and try and pinch the boundaries off the first two balls of the over.

Q. Just moving on to Mitchell Starc's injury, how serious was that, and how do you rate his performance being able to take a couple of wickets under some duress?

DAVID WARNER: Yeah, look, it's obviously -- it was a nasty knock on the inside of the knee. Obviously shows great courage for him to get up. It's his front leg, as well. Would have been in some pain. I know with us batters, we would probably miss a game with an inside edge to the knee. But for him it was good to get him up and about.

It's a World Cup; I know every single one of the boys in this team wouldn't miss a game unless they literally couldn't walk on the park. So credit to him. Obviously bowling nicely. He's got that seam presentation back and well, and he's bowling some quick deliveries.

It was good to see that trademark yorker after he got hit, but yeah, it's good to see.

Q. To start 50 came as a bit of pressure for you?

DAVID WARNER: Yeah, it was great. As I said just before, it was great to spend some time in the middle, and yeah, it's not so much about runs for myself, it's about getting us off to a good start, and we managed that do that. Yeah, no, it's good to be out there.

Q. You guys obviously changed the balance of your side coming into this tournament, bringing in the extra batter. Have you felt like that extra batting depth has given you license to go just a little bit harder in the powerplay?

DAVID WARNER: Yeah, look, I think it does. We've got a bit of flexibility there in the middle, obviously. I think it's dictated also, as well, by the wickets that we're playing on. You're going to have to have the runners in the middle, especially when you're coming up against an attack with three spinners like we did today, and you've got to try and have that balance so you can go hard at the top, as you said, and then you can sort of mix it around in the middle.

We've got some firepower. I think obviously you look at England during the World Cup in 2019, they batted all the way down to the bottom. Those players are hard to find, and at the moment with what we've got here, it's a very, very strong team, and it's an incredible one.

Q. England next game; do you see that as a bit of a litmus test, and is the confidence quite high on the team now after this win and also scraping through the other night?

DAVID WARNER: Yeah, look, obviously coming up against them is always going to be a good challenge. They've obviously got a good all-around side. They bat deep, and they've got a lot of options with the ball. They are high confidence, as well. We know with their batting they're going to come hard, and in the bowling you pretty much know what you're going to get, so as I said, it's applying pressure. If you can apply pressure in the first six, minimize damage, it sort of changes the mindset of what they have to do. So that's the most important thing, and it all starts obviously with the first over and how we deal with that, which dictates the rest of that batting structure and that powerplay.

Q. Just picking up on what you said there about having the extra batting firepower, obviously that takes out the five specialist bowlers which I know you guys have liked in the past. Any concerns given Maxwell and Stoinis, I think they went for 50 up there, combined four overs tonight. Any concerns that could be a bit of a weakness coming up against England?

DAVID WARNER: No, not at all. If you look at Maxy last game, he obviously did a good job. These are the matchups that happen. This happens in the game of Twenty20. You can't pick -- either way you're going to have to pick one of them.

For us to have that all-round option, as well, with Mitch Marsh, Maxy and Stoin, we know they're not specialist bowlers, but they do a job and they do a great one. These wickets at the moment, I think the other one we're playing on looks like it's going to have a bit more bounce and carriage and going to come on nice. This wicket was a tad slow.

It's about identifying obviously with Finchy when he's out there which bowlers he wants to go, if so. Yeah, they did go for a little bit tonight together, but we're not too worried at all.

Q. Just interested on your take across the IPL and what you've seen in this World Cup, that chasing teams, especially at night, are winning the vast majority of games. Is it just the dew factor or are there other facets at play there?

DAVID WARNER: I don't think there was much dew there tonight. I think the bowlers -- when you're out there and you're running around, I think the sweat comes down on to their hands, so I think that becomes a little bit of an issue.

I think just being able to assess bowling first what you have to do from a batting group, I think that gives you a little bit of the upper edge. But then again, if someone gets 190 or 200, you're going to have to go hard.

I think if you bat you've got to have the intent, even when you bat first. Obviously you could say that about the IPL with chasing is it can be a little bit difficult but you can't be too tentative when you bat first. You actually have to try and assess as fast as you can and try and put an above-par total, especially out here.