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Warner leads Australia's home dominance

David Warner credited a change in approach to ODIs - constructing an innings and even slowing down - for his supremacy in the format since 2015

Daniel Brettig
Daniel Brettig
06-Dec-2016
David Warner and Australia picked a good time to return to their strongest format since Darren Lehmann became coach. Under Lehmann, Australia have won 25 ODIs at home and lost only four, picking up the 2015 World Cup and being unbeaten in the other five series' they have hosted.
It is in Warner that Australia have found their most prolific century-maker this year, six hundreds in a format that he once regarded as his weakest. Intriguingly given Lehmann's high-tempo approach to the game, Warner said in the aftermath of his Man-of-the-Match winning hundred to defeat New Zealand at Manuka Oval that composure and even slowing down a little had been key to his success.
"First and foremost it's been the format I struggled at early in my career," Warner said. "The last 18-24 months I've really worked hard to try to construct my innings and build an innings, and not play too many big shots early in my innings. If the ball's there I'm still going to go after it, but that's just what I put it down to, trying to construct an innings and relay that Test match attitude into the one-dayers.
"You do get a few more balls in your area in the one-day stuff where you can actually play through the line, and there's probably not as much movement off the wicket as well especially when you play on grounds like Manuka. It was an absolute belter to play on."
The "belter' was handed to Warner and the rest of the home side by the New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, who wagered on some early assistance for his swing bowlers. However, Australia were always going to bat first, not only because of how the Canberra pitch would behave in the afternoon but also how it was expected to later on - making it easier for the bowlers to place their opponents under pressure.
"Their best attribute is probably swinging the ball with the new rock and I think they tried to make the most of that," Warner said. "We knew batting here first is always a plus and we knew we had to try to keep wickets in hand for the last 10 overs.
"We've seen that with the away teams that have come here, they've got into great positions but really not been able to finish off the games, it just gets too far ahead. You can still finish off well, but I think when opposition teams come here they see that big gap in the run rate go up and try to up the ante too early later."
The victory gave Australia a trio of wins, including the dead rubber Test match against South Africa in Adelaide. Warner reckoned the change in momentum had been driven in the first instance by personnel changes, which in turn provided senior members of the team with greater impetus to push forward.
"It's one of those things where if you get some fresh faces in and around, your energy gets up and going, and I can't really put my finger on it," Warner said. "I just think the boys took it hard, it really hurt us down in Hobart. Losing that series, we saw it really does hurt. I think it was the kick up the backside that we needed to get us back up and going.
"We don't want to lose too many series' at home especially, but the guys have worked out a way out to come back. If it was a bit of [lost] form from people. The senior players have to keep stepping up, if we do that then the other guys will follow us."

Daniel Brettig is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @danbrettig