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Warner wants to bat longer on flat pitches

Warner posted a mammoth 253 in the second Test

David Warner said that the flat pitches that he has been batting on are making him bat for longer and stay in the middle for a considerable amount of time and score as many runs as possible, reports ESPN Cricinfo.

Warner, who scored 253 in the second Test, has been in the form of his life. Two centuries in the two innings of the first Test and now a double-century in the first innings has made him just one of the three people to have scored three consecutive hundreds in three innings.

“The key factor here is the type of wickets we're playing on, they're nice and generous for batsmen, the bowlers are really going to have to work hard," Warner told ABC Grandstand before the second day’s play.

"That's something we know in Australia as a batsman you really have to cash in, we're fortunate enough to play on very good wickets, and around the world I think in general the wickets are pretty batter friendly today.”

Warner went on to add that the pitch wasn’t doing much and just became slower as the day rolled on, he said he was expecting the pitch to quicken a bit after tea or lunch but the ball didn’t do much.

“It [the pitch] was a bit disappointing, you see generally after lunch or even tea time it does quicken up, but it felt like it got a bit slower through the middle. The second new ball came through a little bit, but I think it also has something to do with their bowlers only reaching 130-135 and they're quite tired. When we've got two bowlers at 140 plus, that's when we can see if the wicket has actually fastened up. But generally pretty slow for a WACA wicket."

First time batting a full day 

Warner for the first time on Friday managed to bat a full day in a Test match, after falling just before the close of the day on day one during the first game at the Gabba. Warner relied heavily on singles and strike rotation with Joe Burns and then Usman Khawaja, putting up a 100-run stand with Burns and a 300-run partnership with Khwaja.

"It wasn't really in the back of my mind to achieve that, it was more about trying to take the singles that were on offer, that allowed me to do that and achieve batting out the day for the team," Warner said.

"That's what it comes down to, if the fields are a little bit more attacking you can play your shots a bit more and it might create the chances, there were odd occasions when Brendon did bring the field back in, but for us it was rotating that strike.”

On his century stands with Burns and Khawaja this is what Warner had to say, "I really did enjoy it, putting another 100-run partnership on with Joe, but to go out with my childhood mate Ussie and see him and be out there and hug him for his hundred and our 300 partnership, our family will be so proud of that because we've grown up with each other, to be out there and put what we used to do when we played together as youngsters, to put it out here on the global scale is fantastic."

Warner also said that abstinence from alcohol was also helping in his performance, warner who hasn’t had a drink since June, before the West Indies tour said he might think of having a drink now that he reached his highest Test score ever.

"A lot of that decision was to try to get through England and our summer, to give my body the best opportunity to get through the summer," he said. "Also it helps when you've got your wife who's seven months pregnant now, her not being able to have alcohol it's more about myself setting a goal to see if I can go her full term with not having alcohol. Going well so far but I think I might need one after this game."  

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