Warner ‘exhausted’ ahead of India tour, would rather skip CA awards
David Warner is feeling exhausted ahead of next month’s Test tour of India and admits he would have preferred the night off from the Cricket Australia awards this Monday to recover from a busy home summer.
Warner’s hectic summer officially came to an end on Friday night when the Brisbane Heat eliminated his Sydney Thunder from the BBL finals.
Starting in August, Warner played in the white-ball series against Zimbabwe, New Zealand, England and the West Indies, in every game of Australia’s T20 World Cup campaign, in each Test match of the home series against the West Indies and South Africa, and then managed six BBL games on his return to the tournament. He also had the fallout from his failed appeal to overturn the lifetime leadership ban.
“It’s been challenging,” Warner told reporters of his busy summer. “I’m quite tired, exhausted.”
India’s difficult wickets are lying in wait, as is the challenge to find consistent form with the bat following a Test summer that yielded a memorable double-century and a spate of unconvincing knocks.
The 36-year-old has five days to rest up before India, but one of his evenings will be taken up by CA’s awards evening, to be attended by the Test squad ahead of their staggered flights out.
T20I team-mate Marcus Stoinis and BBL star Chris Lynn are missing the awards night to play franchise cricket overseas.
“There are a few guys who have gone to the UAE League, which aren’t going to the Cricket Australia awards,” Warner said. “From my perspective, that would’ve been nice to have had another night at home. But it is what it is.”
Warner’s best performance of the BBL summer came on Friday night, when a rapid-fire 36 runs from 20 balls had the Thunder in with a chance before rain washed the game out.
While his results have not lived up to his billing, the opener said his intention had never been to use the BBL cameo to limber up for the longer format in India.
“You’re not really trying to negate the spinning ball, it’s a white ball as well,” Warner said of the BBL. “For me, it was about coming back and trying to inject some energy into the Thunder team and trying to put my best foot forward for the team. It hasn’t come off this year.”
Warner is contracted for one more summer with Thunder and will come into the tournament on the back of an ODI World Cup in India, and potentially after a similarly busy home Test summer if he is still playing and selected. However, if he is still part of the Test side next season there is a chance the schedule could make it very difficult to feature with a series against West Indies penciled in for late January
“Hopefully next year I can come out and be a little bit fresher than what I am at the moment,” he said. It’s going to be a long lead-in to our summer. From a personal point of view, I’m going to have to try and work out how to stay nice and fresh.”
