Ashes 2019 – David Warner Mentions His Hunger To Prove In Longer Formats

Australia’s David Warner has said he is “just a bit hungrier and determined” to bat longer in a quest for three-digit scores in the Ashes series.

Coming off a year-long ban, Warner was in fine form at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019, and is keen to continue making runs in the whites as well.

Ahead of the first Ashes Test, which starts on 1 August in Birmingham, the visitors are playing a four-day intra-squad practice match in Southampton. Both the Australian teams have struggled with the bat so far, with only Warner scoring a fifty: a steady 94-ball 58 in the second innings for Haddin XII.

On Australia’s previous Ashes tour of England, in 2015, which the hosts won 3-2, Warner made 418 runs at an average of 46.44. He scored five half-centuries but failed to convert any of those into a hundred, with 85 being his highest score.

“I look back and reflect on how I’ve played over here [in England], I fought hard,” – Warner said.

“[In the practice game] I got some pretty good balls, and that’s what happens in this game. You’ve got to try to forget about that and not overthink it.” – he added

“In the [2015] Lord’s Test, I was a bit upset and missed out with [38 and 83] and the other boys got 200 [Chris Rogers made 173 while Steve Smith scored 215]. They’re always in the back of your mind, but now I’m just a bit hungrier and determined to play that longer innings.” – David Warner.