Startling truth behind David Warner's Ashes nightmare emerges

David Warner’s tour of England for the Cricket World Cup and Ashes in 2019 was a tale of two batsmen.

The Australian opener was at his swashbuckling best throughout the World Cup, but that scintillating form abandoned Warner when the green and gold one-day uniform was swapped for his Test whites.

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While the Ashes marked the emergence of Marnus Labushagne and served as a reminder of what former captain Steve Smith was capable at his very best, Warner endured a series to forget.

With highlights few and far between, many were left scratching their heads at how things had turned so quickly for Warner.

English quick Stuart Broad took particular delight in tormenting Warning throughout the Ashes, and with cricket on hiatus for the time being, joined the Sky Cricket Podcast to unpack how he prepared for Warner.

“I did a lot of research going in as my record against him was really average," Broad said.

“He is such a dangerous player and one of the best third-innings opening batsmen in the world. You know he can come in and take the game away from you if Australia have got a lead.

“Having played against him a lot over the last eight or nine years, I found that, as I am a taller bowler, when he sat back in the crease he was cutting and square driving me a lot to the boundary.

“I decided I was just going to try and hit his stumps every ball. I was not going to try and swing it away from it as I felt that gave him width, I was just going to scramble the seam.

“If he hit it straight back past me for four, I'd be happy. I didn't mind a few early boundaries if I could bring those stumps into play. I probably ended up bowling a bit fuller than I planned but it worked.

“Once I got him at Lord's, the third time in a row, I just got that feeling like I was getting a bit of a competitive edge over him.”

Broad dismissed Warner seven times in 10 innings as the subdued left-hander finished the drawn series with only 95 runs.

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The England paceman also revealed the effects his purple patch had on his Australian rival.

Warner, famous for his uncompromising competitive streak, eventually turned to discussing his play with Broad in a bid to get to the bottom of his slump - not that Broad was willing to indulge such efforts.

“Little things, like he'd come and talk to me in the morning,” Broad pointed out.

“That's something he's never done as he is such a strong competitive character. He was just trying to find out what was going on.

“He asked me in the warm-up at Lord's whether I had meant to nip it up the slope and I was like 'yeah, yeah, yeah' but of course I hadn't.”