David Warner’s half-century to open the T20 World Cup wasn’t a message to the critics that have picked apart a recent run of poor form as reasons the veteran opener should have been replaced by batting dynamo Jake Fraser-McGurk.
The 37-year-old, who will bow out of international cricket at the end of the tournament, entered having battled a hand injury at the IPL and in his absence Fraser-McGurk set the tournament alight.
But Warner, now Australia’s leading run-scorer in T20 internationals, has proven himself to be a big-match player, having won player of the tournament honours when Australia lifted the T20 World Cup trophy in 2021 after weathering a similar array of criticisms leading in.
After swatting 56 off 51 balls on a slow wicket in Barbados against Oman, as Australia registered an opening World Cup win, Warner said he was continually bemused at the fuss made about him and it didn’t bother him at all.
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“It doesn’t fuel me. It’s in one ear and out the other,” Warner said.
“I don’t understand why it’s always about myself. There’s 11 players in the team. I don’t understand it. I don’t get it.
“I just go out there and score runs.
“People think they have to keep criticising the way that I play. I don’t know what it is. Honestly, I have no answers as to why people are like that. I’ve had it my whole career.
“I don’t look at it. I don’t listen to it and when you’re all the way around the world, you don’t need to see it.
“As long as I’m contributing to the team and I’m putting us in the best position possible, I’ll just keep trying my best.”
Warner’s veteran experience playing on the tricky wickets in the Caribbean could also prove critical for the Aussies and a counter to the all-out attack that netted Fraser-McGurk four IPL 50s in his debut tournament and a strike rate in excess of 230.
“I’m not shocked. I’ve played CPL (Caribbean Premier League) here in 2018. I’ve played a lot of cricket over here,” Warner said.
“They’re (slow wickets) all the same. The variation in bounce is the one that surprises you because naturally, when they pitch the ball on that 8m length, your natural instinct is to pull it.
“You have to go back to targeting straight, backing yourself and if it does bounce (unusually), so be it.”
Australia will play arch rivals England on Sunday and Warner said the pace of the likes of Mark Wood and Jofra Archer could help him counter the slowness of the pitches.
“You just use their pace,” he said.
“Test cricket, they set different fields, (bowl) different balls. In T20 cricket, you only have to get half an edge on it and it can go. There’s a fair difference.”