Warner hungry for three-figure scores in the Ashes

Coming off a year-long ban, Warner was in fine form at the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2019, and is keen to continue raking in the runs in whites as well.

Ahead of the first Ashes Test, which starts on 1 August in Birmingham, the visitors are playing a four-day intra-squad practice match in Southampton. Both the Australian teams have struggled with the bat so far, with only Warner scoring a fifty: a steady 94-ball 58 in the second innings for Haddin XII.

On Australia's previous Ashes tour of England, in 2015, which the hosts won 3-2, Warner made 418 runs at an average of 46.44. He scored five half-centuries but failed to convert any of those into a hundred, with 85 being his highest score.

"I look back and reflect on how I've played over here [in England], I fought hard," he said after play on Wednesday, 24 July. "[In the practice game] I got some pretty good balls, and that's what happens in this game. You've got to try to forget about that and not overthink it.

"In the [2015] Lord's Test, I was a bit upset and missed out with [38 and 83] and the other boys got 200 [Chris Rogers made 173 while Steve Smith scored 215]. They're always in the back of your mind, but now I'm just a bit hungrier and determined to play that longer innings."

Warner pointed to some uncharacteristic knocks he played during the World Cup as a sign of his patience. "You saw that I hung in there a lot. The old me probably would have thrown the bat at it quite often. Today, that was all I was focusing on, making sure my feet and my decision-making were on point. I was happy with that, but I've got to try to get those three figures."

The green surface in Southampton and the swinging Dukes balls helped the bowlers dominate as 32 wickets fell on the first two days of the practice match. That only seems to have spurred Warner on to prepare better for the series.

"That's the luxury about these sort of games, that you can prepare under the hardest conditions. You won't get any practice better than this leading into that first Test."