No training, but Dave back to blast Proteas

DAVID Warner’s history of skipping training between games will help the opener maintain his crushing form when he rejoins Australia in Manchester today.

Warner, 32, spent three sleep-deprived nights in London after wife Candice gave birth to their third daughter, Isla Rose, on Sunday night.

“He’ll be OK. He’s got two kids so he doesn’t get much sleep anyway,” assistant coach Brad Haddin said.

“The thing with Davey’s cricket is that he doesn’t hit much during a tournament anyway. He does a lot of his volume at the start of a campaign and he’s done that.

“It’s only about making sure he’s fresh and ready to go. We’ve got a long turnaround, which we’re lucky about, it’s worked in our favour.

“From a cricket point of view, he doesn’t actually need to hit any balls.”

Australia will relinquish first place on the World Cup ladder if India defeats Sri Lanka on Saturday, but can reclaim it three hours later.

The Aussies play South Africa in the day-night clash and finishing first would ensure they stay in Manchester for the first semi-final, saving a travel day and delivering a longer break into the final should they advance.

Warner’s 516 runs this World Cup has dropped to No.3, overtaken by Indian opener Rohit Sharma (544) and Bangladesh superstar Shakib Al-Hasan (542), who has also taken 11 wickets.

Haddin said Warner had matured both on and off the field, with his new-found batting gears boosting his average at the expense of his strikerate. “He is still that match winner that he was in 2015,” Haddin said. “What he is doing now is he’s batting in situations better. He’s got more gears.

“He’s starting to understand how to bat better in situations.”