Perth, Jan 13: Australian opener David Warner put the hosts in a commanding position with a blistering 104* after they had bowled India out for 161 on Day 1 at Perth. His 69-ball 100 is now the fastest by an opener in Test cricket.
The explosive opener spoke about his batting at the press conference after stumps on Day 1. Excerpts:
On his performance with the bat
It was just batting, you know, but we had to capitalise on that start that we had from the bowlers. The bowlers were fantastic; [they] reduced India to 161. We had to go out there and play into the end of the day. I just thought that if I kept backing myself and backing my game and self belief, Ed [Cowan] and I were going to try and not lose a wicket by the end of the day and we’re in a good position at the moment.
On being hit by a delivery
You don’t really ever want go off [the field] for anything […] But I was fine, just a bit shaken up and it’s the second time that I have been hit here at the WACA. I just am going to try and keep my eye on the ball and just keep watching it.
On his batting style
I have always said that if the ball is in my zone, I will go after it and that’s what I did. I was working on keeping my head still and my balance right. I was in a good position there to score runs and be aggressive. Here at the WACA you are going to get value for your shots so now it’s back to my game and my instinct and I am 100 not out.
On what aided his batting
It wasn’t because of the pace and bounce, it’s more me with my head and my balance getting still. Mickey Arthur said to me, ‘If you look down the line and where your axis is, your head is, it’s always falling away over your front leg. If the ball is coming straight down the wicket, you want to hit it along with the ball’. And that is what I was I was working mainly on this week. I found that in the last session I wasn’t going to have an option […] I just needed to go down there and have my last hit and I hit two fours, I think. I think Craig McDermott was pretty buggered off but the net bowlers, […] credit to them to have come down and bowled at us.
On getting runs in the subcontinent
It’s funny that you say that because when we are out there there’s a bit of banter, Virat [Kohli], Ed, me and Ishant [Sharma]. Virat was saying to us, ‘You talk about your averages and this and that but when you get to India, it’s going to be a different story,’ and I said, ‘We probably average an extra ten in India’. That’s because the wickets here are a bit lively and over there they are a bit flat. But at the end of the day there is a lot of bounce at the WACA so we’ve got to treat every game as it is. It’s not easy for us as well. Even though we have been brought up here, we are still we play one game here a year or two. Unless you are from WA [Western Australia], you don’t really know the bounce. I wish the wickets that we have been playing on had a little bit in them. At the end of the day they have got to come here and they have got all the resources and practice as much as they can. Can’t fault the efforts of bowlers as well because they bowled well and bowled the ball in the right areas to get results.
On the banter
No one said anything in the last two games. I think a lot of teams, especially now with me and Ed, if you start with having a go at us, we enjoy that, we love a little contest. We’re going to grind it back in their faces and that’s what we have done today. We are going to come out [on Day 2] and respect the bowlers again. Hopefully they know how to keep themselves quiet and we carry on.
On whether this was his best innings
If we had won in Hobart, probably Hobart, but this is a great milestone for myself, an achievement […] I said to Michael Hussey the other day [that] I have batted here a couple of times [but] haven’t scored that many runs. I’ve turned it around. But I will have to say this one by far because it has put us in a great position. We are 2-0 up in the series and we hope we can put 400-500 runs on the board and bowl them out again and take the series. Then it will be fantastic.
