David Warner scored 43 runs in Australia’s first innings total of 469 in the ongoing ICC World Test Championship (WTC 2023) final against India.
Australia’s total was buoyed by centuries from Travis Head (163) and Steve Smith (121), while Alex Carey (48) and David Warner also contributed to the score, after India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and invited them to bat first at the Oval in London.
David Warner has played over 100 Tests but the seasoned opener did not stop finding new ways to make himself more effective with the bat. He was backed for the Ashes and this ongoing WTC final despite a poor showing in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in India.
He and Marnus Labuschagne (26) did a fine job by seeing off the new ball. India lost steam after a terrific opening spell from Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj and set a good platform for Smith and Head to counterattack.
During the press conference at the end of day 2, Steve Smith was asked about the way Warner took guard in this match, almost digging a hole near the batting crease.
"Yeah, I almost fell in it," Smith said.
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Notably, former captain Ricky Ponting explained on television on Thursday about Warner's unusual and deep guard that made a hole near the stumps. Ponting said Warner made a deep line that ran parallel to the stumps behind the crease in order to help him understand when he moved too far back and across.
Smith said he was unaware of Warner's new guard and had to ask his batting partner Marnus Labuschagne about the deep hole.
"I kind of, I didn't really move around it. I got used to it eventually, but almost twisted my ankle the first few balls I faced out there to be honest. Then I sort of got used to it, but it was odd. I'd never experienced that before on that side really," Smith explained.
"You occasionally get the edge of the foot marks, you know, the back end of a game, second innings where you kind of fall into them and you're a bit, yeah, I don't know, just off balance, but when I'm moving to off stump and I've got this hole there, it was something I hadn't experienced before, but maybe I need to do it more often, it worked for me, so he can keep digging that hole I suppose," he added.
Check his answer here:
