Flashy Warner shows his patient side

CRICKET’S great entertainer has turned dogged match saver at the MCG, with David Warner out to deny England its Ashes consolation prize.

Warner yesterday showed his multi-layered skills are very similar to Steve Smith, as he battened down the hatches and made the best of a pitch that has put the Test match to sleep. Together the Australian brains trust must today outlast England’s reverse-swing wizards if the home side is to keep a clean sheet heading into next week’s New Year’s Test finale in Sydney.

Australia still trails by 61 runs with eight wickets in hand and today’s assignment for Warner and Smith shapes as a balancing act between sucking time out of the match while still getting far enough ahead of the England total that a last session chase is put out of the question.

In the period after lunch yesterday, Warner and Smith went 25 balls without scoring and Warner faced almost as many balls (140) for his 40 not out as he did for his first-in- nings hundred. There is more work to be done today, but Warner has matured into a batsman capable of delivering whatever is required.

“He’s one of the best batsmen in the world so I think today was great to see the way he batted for the team,” Mitchell Marsh said.

“Obviously I think the game scenario and the way he batted today was really important for us.”

Warner and Smith dug in like men possessed after Cameron Bancroft and Usman Khawaja perished against a ball England got to reverse in less than 10 overs. Despite being 3-0 up in the series, Bancroft and Khawaja are now under increasing amounts of pressure for the Sydney Test.