David Warner says Joe Root will need to “take the surfboard off his front leg” if he and England are to succeed in Australia this winter.<\/b><\/p>\n
Warner, 38, is in England for a stint with London Spirit in The Hundred and while he is looking forward to calling Lord’s home for a month, he could not resist a gentle dig at former Ashes rivals.<\/p>\n
England face Australia in the Ashes from late November, when they will attempt to win back the urn for the first time in 10 years.<\/p>\n
“The big anchor there is Rooty [England batter Joe Root], who is yet to score a hundred in Australia,” Warner told BBC Sport.<\/p>\n
In reference to a perception that Root gets out lbw a lot, Warner said: “Josh Hazlewood tends to have his number quite a lot. He will have to take the surfboard off his front leg.”<\/p>\n
Warner, who retired from international cricket last year, is set to make his Hundred debut in the tournament opener against Oval Invincibles on Tuesday. <\/p>\n
He could face Root’s Trent Rockets at Lord’s on 14 August.<\/p>\n
Root is the number one Test batter in the world and crucial to England’s hopes of winning the Ashes but has never scored a century in Australia.<\/p>\n
He has been dismissed 10 times in 18 Tests by Australia seamer Hazlewood – one fewer than the 11 times he has been dismissed by Australia captain Pat Cummins and India bowler Jasprit Bumrah.<\/p>\n
“It all comes down to the bowlers,” Warner said.<\/p>\n
“If the English bowlers can put a dent in the Australia top order then they will come into the contest.”<\/p>\n
Warner could also face another former Ashes rival in The Hundred this year in veteran bowler James Anderson. Anderson was a late pick for Manchester Originals, who the Spirit play on 11 August.<\/p>\n
Asked about the prospect of facing England’s record wicket-taker again, Warner said: “They are 2025 white cricket balls not 2018 red Dukes.<\/p>\n
“It is going to be a bit different.”<\/p>\n
England asked for the 2018 batch of Dukes balls to be used for the 2019 Ashes because they expected them to move more for Anderson and the hosts’ other seamers.<\/p>\n
Anderson was injured four overs into the series which was drawn 2-2, yet Warner has not forgotten.<\/p>\n
“He probably won’t be able to seam it around corners like they normally do,” Warner said.<\/p>\n
When Warner plays on Tuesday it will be the first time he has taken to the field on English soil since the final day of the Ashes in 2023.<\/p>\n
That day, before the ball changes, bail swaps and Stuart Broad’s finale, Warner was applauded off by the crowd at The Oval, despite his troubled history with the England-supporting public.<\/p>\n
“I was touched by that,” Warner said.<\/p>\n
“It is a credit to the supporters of cricket in England, who love the game.<\/p>\n
“We have always had our challenges and battles as nations but what English supporters do is appreciate players who have played for a long time. That did mean a lot.”<\/p>\n
The Spirit reached the Hundred eliminator 2022 but have finished seventh or eighth in the tournament’s other three seasons.<\/p>\n
This year Warner will be reunited with another Australian, the former coach and opener Justin Langer who has replaced Trevor Bayliss as coach.<\/p>\n
“I know Spirit haven’t gone too well in the past few years,” Warner said.<\/p>\n
“For myself to bring some energy and intensity to the group and project that on the field would be awesome.<\/p>\n
“It is about the fans and the young kids that are coming out to see us, not about the player and whether there has been a bit of history or not.<\/p>\n
“It is about supporting the game, making sure we are the ones putting bums on seats and are there for the right reasons.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Warner says Joe Root will need to “take the surfboard off his front leg” if he and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,12,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-311664","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114958675695149714","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}