SK Play of the day: Captain Warner slays Sri Lanka with clinical century

While all the spotlight had been on Steve Smith and the Australian think tank over the past week or so, David Warner’s ascent to captaincy did not quite garner the same attention. And a lackluster sequence with the bat only went so far as masking his presence during the ODI series in Sri Lanka.

Admittedly, the final match at Pallekele was a dead rubber with the Aussies entering into it on the back of an unassailable series lead. However, Warner needed a strong showing to justify his burgeoning credentials within the set-up.

Unlike his Test numbers, he had not quite stepped up against the white-ball as evidenced by a paltry ODI average of 37.53 in an era of benign pitches and humongous bats with only one of those six centuries in the 50-overs arena coming outside Australia.

However, Warner took a significant step towards his fortunes around with a laudable performance. Upon winning the loss, the hosts lost wickets regularly as their specialist batsmen did not convert starts into meaningful knocks.

Even though 196 was not a target which would make any team sweat in the present-day scenario, a firm hand from the top-order could ensure smoothness in the proceedings. A couple of early wickets to Dilruwan Perera’s classical off-spin spelt trouble on a pitch wherein stroke-play had to be prudent.

Skipper Warner led from the front by piercing the gaps and manipulating the bowlers to feed his strong points. Acknowledging the perfect template on how to approach ODIs, he based his innings on rotating the strike in a shrewd manner.

He was aided by the comforting existence of the in-form George Bailey at the other end and a lack of diligence from the Lankans who did not opt to review a top-edge off an attempted sweep.

Realizing the importance of putting Amila Aponso off his lengths by not allowing him to settle, Warner targeted the inexperience left-arm spinner with a rare reverse-sweep and a few booming drives.

When Suranga Lakmal was brought back in an apparent plan to test the 29-year old’s intentions against slower cutters that gripped on the surface. But, the well-set opener latched on to the errors in execution and began to assert himself.

Even as Bailey perished to a fuller one from Perera, Warner reached three figures with a simple nudge and run. Although he could not be there in the end to hit the winning runs, the pugnacious batsman had done enough to reduce the chase to a romp as Australia highlighted their dominance in ODIs with a 4-1 victory.

After sealing the Player of the Match award, Warner deflected the praise to his team-mates and felt, “(It is) always good to get a milestone, but credit to our bowlers for setting the tone. Partnerships (were the) key, we've done that well in this series. Well done to George Bailey, he's been our rock and allowed our batters to bat around him. Always pleasing to win a series (as) we knew we were going to get the same wickets as the Tests (which ended with Sri Lanka winning 3-0).”