Warner reveal ahead of World Cup farewell

NCA Newswire

Wed, 1 May 2024, 1:09 am·3-min read

Australian head selector George Bailey believes David Warner will be able to prove his fitness in the IPL before heading to the West Indies for the T20 World Cup. Picture: Indranil Mukherjee / AFP

Veteran Australian opener David Warner is still in “a fair bit of discomfort” but has been backed to prove his fitness in the IPL ahead of his international swansong.

Warner, 37, has been sidelined since April 20 with bone bruising in his left hand after consecutive scores of 18, 10, 8 and 1 for the Delhi Capitals.

He held his spot in Australia’s squad for next month’s T20 World Cup over Capitals teammate Jake Fraser-McGurk, who has replaced him at the top of the order in the Ricky Ponting-coached side.

Australian chief selector George Bailey said he hoped Warner could recover in time to finish off the IPL season before joining the squad in the Caribbean, with plans for him to partner Travis Head during the tournament.

An injury to his left hand has affected David Warner’s form and led to him being sidelined after a solid start to his 2024 IPL campaign. Picture: Indranil Mukherjee / AFP

“No concern from the point of view … I think it’s been clear that there’s no break, but it’s still causing him a fair bit of discomfort,” Bailey said when asked about Warner’s hand injury.

“So obviously we’ll monitor that. Hopefully, he can get back and play a couple more games in the IPL to finish off, but I think it’s just one of those ones, just some deep-seated bone bruising and just it’s gonna take a little bit of time.

“But I don’t think anyone’s going to been able to give him a really definitive answer on how long that’ll be.”

Australia’s squad announced on Wednesday was marked as a “provisional” version, with changes still possible in the lead-up to the tournament.

Bailey said captain Mitch Marsh, who returned home from the IPL a fortnight ago to recover from a hamstring tear, would resume batting shortly as he said the selectors were confident all players would be “up to speed” in time for the start of the tournament.

Australian head selector George Bailey says T20 captain Mitch Marsh’s timeline to return to bowling after a hamstring injury is unclear, but the squad has the ‘flexibility’ to cover for him. Picture: Michael Bradley / AFP

A raft of senior players including Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood and Ashton Agar have not played since the end of the Australian summer, while others including Matthew Wade have struggled to get game time in the IPL.

“(Marsh) is coming along pretty well, I think he starts batting again pretty shortly, obviously the build to bowling is probably going to look a little bit different, but again we’ve got some flexibility there,” Bailey said.

“That will build in time, but he’ll certainly be fit and firing to play.

“In an ideal world, you’ve got everyone absolutely flying, but there’s still a reasonable amount of time before the actual tournament starts.

“You’re hoping a few of those injury concerns clear up before then, but again, making sure you’ve got the balance come the start of the tournament that by the time the tournament does start, everyone’s fit.”