Warner in doubt for Sri Lankian clash

Big hitting opener and vice-captain David Warner is in doubt for the One-Day International encounter against Sri Lanka on Friday following suffering what looked like an arm injury during training.

Warner, 25 seemed to be thriving in pain and was forced off the field clutching his right arm following falling on a ball during fielding practise, according to reports.

The New South Welshman was treated by the medical team as he left the SCG and did not return as his team’s prepares for their Commonwealth Bank Series clash.

A decision on Warner will be made just prior to the start of the match as Australia will head into the game already without captain Michael Clarke who will miss the clash due to a hamstring injury.

In his place Ricky Ponting will lead the national team for the first time since relinquishing the captaincy after the 2011 World Cup.

Ponting, 37 accepted the role as stand-in captain but only after being convinced to do so by national selector John Inverarity who explained that vice-captain David Warner wasn’t ready to skipper the side yet.

The Tasmanian revealed that he took Warner aside after the match in Adelaide where Clarke injured himself and gave him a few pointers on captaining the side only to be told by Inverarity that he would Australia out against Sri Lanka.

“I did have a think about it and I had a good chat to John Inverarity about that and what some of my concerns were around that,” Ponting said at a media conference in Sydney on Thursday. “But I decided to do what they wanted me to do and what I felt was probably right for the team right at the moment.”

“We’ve got a few of our experienced guys out on the sidelines at the moment, and I know Dave Warner had been named vice-captain at the start of the one-day series and the selectors made it very clear why they haven’t given him the captaincy for this game. I’m excited about leading the team again but hopefully it’s only for a very short period of time.”

“[My concerns] were all the things that have already been spoken about in the media in the past couple of days. The fact there was a vice-captain named and it looked like I was coming over the top of him and maybe not giving a younger guy an opportunity to captain Australia.”

“They were the things I spoke to John about, but the fact they’d actually asked me, they’d put a lot of time and thought and energy into making me come back into this role, so I agreed to do it and felt and still feel right now that it’s probably the best decision for the team.”

Ponting revealed that he took Warner aside and spoke to him about the captaincy after Clarke suffered the injury on Sunday which may keep him out of Sunday’s clash against India in Brisbane.

The former long-time national captain admitted that he will be spending a lot more time with Warner over the next couple of days.

“As soon as the game finished in Adelaide I actually dragged [Warner] over and made him sit with me for a few minutes and I said to him then ‘make sure you’ve got yourself ready to captain Australia in a couple of days’ time’,” commented Ponting.

“Then as soon as the decision was made he was on the phone to me straight away saying ‘don’t worry about me, you better make sure you’re ready to captain the team’, so we’ve had a bit of a chat about it. Davey’s very clear on the direction the selectors have taken, and I’m just going to do the best I can to make sure he gets the most out of the game that he possibly can.”

“As I’ve always done when I was captain is ask the opinions of the players out on the field at different times in the game and for Friday’s game it’ll be Davey that I’ll be going to a lot to one let him know what my ideas are and what we’re trying to achieve and also try to get some ideas out of him as to where he sees the game at any particular time.”

“I think he came out yesterday and said he enjoys working under Michael and George Bailey in the T20s and for him tomorrow he’s got a chance to work with me and I’m looking forward to that.”

One of Ponting’s main priorities for the game on Friday is too focus on the fielding as Australia performed below par in their game against India and that maybe a hangover from the travelling.

“That’s the hardest one you have during the summer, there’s no doubt about that,” exclaimed Ponting.

“When you’re travelling from Sydney to Brisbane like we are this week then it’s not as big a deal. Coming from Perth, we left at one o’clock and arrived in Adelaide about half past six. Then you’re having dinner and up and playing the next day. Probably for the fast bowlers in particular that was the hardest thing that they’ll have to do for the summer.”

“We’re not using that as an excuse. We knew about that at the start of the summer and we have to gear our training and our preparation around a trip like that. That game’s behind us now. We’ve got to look forward to this week and make sure we’re lifting our standards again.”