Australian opener David Warner is set to play his record 100th test in the 2nd match against South Africa in Melbourne. This is a boxing-day test, and Warner would want to make this test memorable. He is going through a tough phase at the moment, and Steve Smith has backed Warner to do well here.
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Warner’s struggles were visible in the last test well where he scored a combined total of 3 runs in the match. He could not even open his tally in the 1st innings. Warner’s struggles in the format are going on for a long now, and he last scored his test century in 2020 only.
In the last 10 innings of Warner, he has not scored a single half-century and has just scored 169 runs. It is a big milestone for Warner to be playing his 100th test, and he would want to make full use of it.
Steve Smith assured of David Warner’s fightback in test cricket
Australian test vice-captain Steve Smith is assured that Warner is going to make a strong fightback in the red-ball format. After his continuous struggles in the test format, it is being said that Warner is now getting short of chances to revive his test career. However, Smith believes that Warner has always done well under pressure.
Smith reminded about Warner’s century that he scored against England in the recent ODI century on a tough wicket. He said that Warner played a great knock very recently, and he is not out of form.
“You only have to look back a (few) weeks ago (to) a one-day game out here (at the MCG) against England, he scored 100 on what was a pretty tough wicket,” Steve Smith said to the reporters.
“We’ve seen David when his back’s up against the wall, he’s done pretty well.”
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Ahead of the last T20 World Cup in Dubai, Warner’s spot in the T20 squad was also criticized, but he proved the critics wrong by winning the Man of the Tournament award. Smith gave the same reference and said that Warner plays all the formats in the same way and that’s his beauty.
“It doesn’t matter what format of the game, Davey always plays in a pretty similar way, which has been the beauty of him in Test cricket, being able to take the game on from ball one,” Smith added.