Warner calls for longer tour gaps
MUMBAI: Australia vice-captain David Warner has said last month’s five-match ODI series against England, immediately after the rigorous Ashes, prompted a ‘mental breakdown’ for some cricketers.
Warner, currently Australia’s stand-in captain for the ongoing T20I tri-series involving England and New Zealand, is the only player who has played in all formats since November 23 when the Ashes began. The Warner-led Australia have made it to the final of the tri-series, which will be played against New Zealand on February 21.
Steven Smith, on the other hand, has reached South Africa with key members of the Australian cricket team for what seems to be another intense four-Test series on offering starting March 1. “In hindsight, you can say yes (given) the way that we performed. But even if we performed as well, you probably would have got a break as well,” Warner was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
“I just think the thing that’s
“The important thing is how you mix your deliveries according to the wicket. For instance, today we bowled a lot of slow balls. It was part of our strategy on this wicket, to do away with pace and make it difficult for the batsmen to score,” he said.
South Africa opener Reeza Hendricks, who made 70, found Bhuvneshwar the most difficult bowler to face.
“He (Bhuvneshwar) was just consistent in his areas which was pretty much giving us nothing to score off. So, we had to be happy with ones and twos at that time,” Hendricks said.
Though Duminy thinks he could counter the Indian batsmen with shortpitched deliveries and Hendricks said it was the captain’s suggestion and they all bought into it, there were suggestions from other quarters that the Proteas have been bowling without any thought and banking on India’s old reputation of being suspect against short balls. missing is the gap between the last Test and the first one-day game.
“England had, I think, four players maybe (playing both Tests and ODIs) and besides Chris Woakes, there wasn’t another bowler. You look at little things like that that can benefit us in a way,” Warner added, claiming, “It was a bit of a mental breakdown from a few of us.”
Warner was supportive of the idea to have fresh faces in the T20I tri-series.
“If you look at the Twenty20 team at the moment, the way these guys have come out of the Big Bash fresh, they’re just killing it,” Warner expressed.
“It’s sort of set the example that if we come around to the same situation again with a big Ashes series, do we look at certain things? And that’s up to Cricket Australia to look at and judge,” he said.
However, Warner said players will never put their hands up asking for rest, calling for better planning of cricket fixtures. “(But) we’re never going to put our hand up to say we need a rest, that’s for sure, because every day we’re living the dream,” he said.