Ashes 2019 | Confident David Warner and Cameron Bancroft will bounce back, believes Steve Waugh
Australian team mentor Steve Waugh has said that he is optimistic that his out-of-form opening batsmen David Warner and Cameron Bancroft will bounce back soon. The duo has shared partnerships of 13, 2, and 11 in the series so far, with Warner falling thrice in a row to Stuart Broad.
Unlike Steve Smith, a return to Test cricket has not gone well for either of Australia’s openers. Warner averages 4.33 in the series, while his partner fares slightly better at 9.33. To his credit, Bancroft has survived a total of 122 balls in the middle. Coming out to bat in the first innings of the second Test, the overcast conditions did not help their cause one bit. Warner fell prey to Broad again – a beauty that sneaked right through the defence to dislodge the bails. Bancroft held it out to the next day before his 66-ball vigil was ended by Test debutant Jofra Archer.
"I think it's just Test match cricket, and they haven't been easy wickets. Batting last night was difficult, six o'clock at night, an hour to go, under lights, overcast conditions, that's as tough as it gets and this morning was difficult again. It's a fine line, you can analyse and scrutinize players, but that's Test match cricket. Sometimes you are going to miss out. If you pick a guy you back him for the long term and right now we are confident those guys are going to bounce back," Waugh was quoted saying by Cricbuzz.
"I don't think you look at the runs too much. I think Dave Warner looked really good last night. It was a pretty good delivery which got him. I don't think that's too much cause for concern. I thought Bancroft hung in there pretty well, he just needed to spend another half hour there, get a few more balls away out of the middle and he would have been right. They both want to get a lot more runs obviously."
Unlike Bancroft, whose dismissals have come in different fashions each time – caught at slip off Broad, short-leg off Moeen Ali and trapped in front by Archer at Lord's – Warner has succumbed to the round-the-wicket angle from Broad each time. The veteran Englishman has made merry with the inside and outside edges of Warner’s bat.
"I don't think I've done anything majorly different apart from bringing stumps into play a little bit more. In the past, I've seen Warner as looking to find his edge all the time, whereas this has been a slight change of plan. That's been on the pitches we've played on. They've been quite dry, much drier than we were expecting as a side. That wobble seam has moved off the dryness of the pitch rather than there being a bit of moisture and swinging. I've just been looking to wobble it onto off stump. There have been a couple of decent balls in there to Warner," Broad said.
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