Warner hopeful of overcoming finger injury

David Warner is hopeful of being available for Australia's next match against West Indies on Monday, despite suffering a painful blow to the finger in the win over South Africa on Saturday.

Warner was Man of the Match in St Kitts for his 109 against South Africa, but late in South Africa's chase he was struck on the index finger of his left hand diving for a catch. Warner left the field immediately after the blow but he took hope from the fact that, while it had hurt, the feeling was different to when he had broken his thumb previously.

"The finger is quite sore," Warner said. "We'll keep assessing it over the next 24 hours. It's quite painful. To me it's just got the same bruising marks as a normal bung on the finger does. I'm always hopeful. A sore finger is not going to stop me but if it's broken, that might.

"I was a bit hesitant. When I first looked at it, it didn't look too good. It had that sort of purple mark on the nail. But it doesn't feel like the thumb … I've broken the thumb twice, I know what that feels like. Hopefully, I'm being positive, and there's not too much damage."

Warner was struck when he dived in an attempt to catch a JP Duminy cut off the bowling of Mitchell Marsh in the 39th over and while he failed to make the catch, Australia's bowlers created enough chances to secure a 36-run win. Warner's century was the difference in the match, and despite the short boundaries at Warner Park, nearly half his runs came in ones and twos.

"It's always challenging when you play on these small grounds, because in the back of your mind you've got to take the ego out of it," Warner said. "When you're in, you can feel like you can hit every ball for six. But once that ball got older it was harder to bat. It was actually quite hard to free the arms. You've got to try and get yourself in and be positive.

"The boundaries are always going to come if you're being positive, looking with intent to hit the ones and twos. That's the most important thing about this game, is rotating the strike. There's four fielders out until the last 10, you've just got to make the most of it until you get into there."

The hundred was Warner's sixth in ODIs and his first outside Australia. Warner's one-day form this year has been excellent - so far in 2016 he is the world's leading scorer in ODIs, with 511 runs at 63.87.