David Warner says Australia are fully focused on ending their poor record in Twenty20 cricket, and believes they have the strength in depth to cope with all conditions they will face in the coming fortnight in the Caribbean. Despite ruling the roost in 50-over cricket for the past decade, with three consecutive World Cup victories - including the last tournament in the West Indies in 2007 - Australia's fortunes have not been so great in the shortest format. They were knocked out in the group stages in England last summer, and although they reached the semi-finals in the inaugural tournament in South Africa, they suffered an embarrassment along the way when they were defeated by minnows Zimbabwe.
That result was revisited earlier this week, when Zimbabwe inched to a thrilling one-run victory in the teams' opening warm-up match in St Lucia, but Warner demonstrated the extent of his own form with a rollicking 72 from 49 balls, including five sixes. He followed that up with 51 from 41 balls in a 101-run win against the Windward Islands on Thursday, and is ready to carry that momentum into their first fixture of the tournament, against Pakistan on Sunday.
"It's been a good lead-up for myself with a couple of half-centuries in the games just gone," Warner told Cricinfo. "I don't want to waste my runs in the warm-ups, but it's always good to get them under the belt, and I hope to put in a good performance on Sunday. As a team, we are aware of our shortcomings in Twenty20 cricket, but we've played a lot in Australian cricket in the last couple of years, and we know we've got the resources to take it on this year and win."
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