Australia skipper Finch praises talisman Warner after brilliant century

Another impressive innings from David Warner left Aaron Finch saluting his ‘big-game player’ but he admits the opener needed some help from the rest of the Australia top order.

Hunting down a formidable 325/6 against South Africa at Old Trafford, Warner anchored the Australia innings with a majestic 122 from 117 balls to move second on the list of top run-scorers at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 with 638, behind only Rohit Sharma (647).

Only the consistently impressive number seven Alex Carey gave him any real support however, with a swashbuckling 69-ball knock of 85, and Australia ultimately came up ten runs short.

Warner’s celebrations when he brought up his century – running and leaping in the air having removed his helmet – showed how much it meant to the 32-year-old and Finch couldn’t fault his talisman.

“He played magnificently,” said the skipper. “The way he structured his knock was really important and it's never easy when you are losing wickets at the other end to map out your innings and navigate your way through some really difficult periods.

“But he showed his absolute class and it was an unbelievable knock to get 122. That was as good an innings as he could have played, I think.

“It would have been nice for him to go deep also to have some partners at the top of the order. Myself, [Marcus] Stoinis, Maxy [Glenn Maxwell] – it would have been nice for us to go deeper and make his job easier.

“He's a big-game player, he loves the big stage, so it is an exciting time.”

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Warner’s penchant for the big stage should come in handy when Australia travel down to Birmingham to take on England in the second semi-final at Edgbaston on Thursday.

Victory over South Africa would have secured top spot in the group-stage table and enabled Australia to stay in Manchester for a last-four clash against New Zealand instead but Finch is relishing a blockbuster contest against the hosts – who they beat by 64 runs earlier in the competition.

“You have to beat everyone regardless of who it is or where it is,” he added. “Playing well against England at Lord's a couple of weeks ago will give us some good confidence going into that game.

“There's been a lot of build-up to the World Cup and especially getting towards the pointy end. England have been in really good form recently so again we're going to have to be at our best to win.

“It is going to be exciting. Whenever Australia play England it is exciting but any time you are at Birmingham as well, it's a fun crowd to play in front of there.

“There's always plenty of support there for both sides and it's going to be a great atmosphere. It will be a great spectacle, no doubt.”

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