Southampton: David Warner always seeks to give his best when he goes out to bat.
He loves to see Australia win matches, and that is what even got him to commit the big mistake of masterminding the ball tampering at Cape Town, which resulted in a one-year ban.
Today, he says he wants to make amends and win matches through his skill rather than resorting to unsporting methods.
The burning desire to ensure and Australia win was evident on Thursday, when he was asked whether the World Cup was getting better for him — since he had scored another match-winning century against Bangladesh.
Instead of saying it has been good for him, he said: “Keeps getting better for us … another two points, which is fantastic.”
Warner is enjoying his form but his intention is to ensure victories for Australia, whose image he had tarnished through the ball-tampering incident.
“Form is always great,” he said. “My job is to go out there and score some runs and get us off to a good start, capitalise on the momentum, and try to bat as deep as we can. And today was a good sort of hit out for us batters. I think it was a very good wicket, but a challenging wicket for bowlers to get wickets. I felt that we just had to keep going deep. And we were able to do that.”
So was he trying to make up for the last year?
“That hasn’t been on my mind. For me it’s about going out there and putting my best foot forward for the team and trying to score as many runs as I can. I want to make up for all the runs that I’ve missed out on and for the team.”
Despite these knocks, he has been accused of batting slow at times, and he explained why that happens.
“I don’t mean to go out there and bat slow. I first try to get a measure of how many fielders I’ve hit in the first 10. It gets a bit frustrating because when you sort of middle one and it goes full pace to the fielder, and many times you are even off strike. So that is a bit annoying and I just hang in there. I got frustrated against India and Afghanistan. Today, Finchy [skipper Aaron Finch] kept telling me to hang in there and bat deep and bat time. And that was in like the eighth or ninth over. Generally, my game is not to stick there since I usually try and go after the ball a little bit coming down the wicket. But I need to be a bit more mature about this, I think.”
On being compared to Adam Gilchrist for his contribution at the top, Warner said: “Just as any Australian cricket player, I am ever so grateful for getting the opportunity to play for Australia and to be along the lines — or in the same sentence as Adam Gilchrist is fantastic ... it’s overwhelming.
“But he’s a bit more of a dash than what I am at the top of the order. But he holds his own with the gloves and with the bat.
“And for me, it’s just about going out there to give my best.
“To be honest, that’s all I want to be remembered for — someone who gives 110 per cent when he goes out into the field and is himself.”
