Australia head coach Justin Langer feels that comeback man Steve Smith and David Warner has returned in the national set-up fully ready and raring to go for the 2019 World Cup. He said that the duo has returned to Australian fold in ‘pristine condition’ besides praising former Aussie skipper Steve Smith.
Justin Langer revealed that both Smith and Warner had vouched to return from their one year ban for ball-tampering in better physical shape than before and Langer feels that the duo has gone a long way in achieving that.
“[Smith is in the] best physical condition of his life,” Langer told SEN radio. “I think his skin folds are the lowest they’ve ever been and they’re talking elite level. That was one of his goals at the start of the ban, come back in better physical shape than ever before. He and Davey (Warner) have done the same thing, they are in pristine condition,” Langer said.
One of the major concerns for Steve Smith coming into IPL 2019 was his shoulder injury which led to a restriction of movement of his right arm. He scored 319 in 12 games and barred himself from throwing using the right arm. Meanwhile, David Warner too had a troublesome shoulder ahead of the IPL.
However, it didn’t bother him from finishing as the leading run-getter in the tournament with 692 runs under his belt at a staggering average of 69.20. The Australian coach believes that both Steve Smith and David Warner are working hard as far as fitness is concerned.
“They’re in pretty good shape, they’re not throwing like Nathan Coulter-Nile or Jason Behrendorff at the moment or Glenn Maxwell, but they’re certainly working their way up to it and that’s good for us,” he said.
He further revealed the fact that Australia will open the innings with David Warner during the 2019 World Cup. Justin Langer kept a close look on the duo on Wednesday when Cricket Australia XI played a two-day warm-up game against New Zealand XI. He also praised Usman Khawaja for being an adaptable player too.
“The obvious thing is we should [open with Warner]. But I think he’s quite an adaptable player, too. What I’ve loved is the partnership between Finchy and Usman Khawaja as well. They gel really well and in the past Finch and Warner gelled really well. I’m not trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes, but we’ve got really good options there,” Langer said.
Steve Smith scored 89 of 77 deliveries while batting No 5. Langer was overjoyed with his performance. “I watched him [Smith] on the weekend, he had a nets session on Sunday night and I was sitting with a couple of coaches and I just said ‘How good is this kid’. We know his statistics and I’ve heard all the stories but when you see him first hand. [Wednesday] was a tutorial in batting. It’s great for the team.”