It is a similar scenario Warner faced at the start of last Australian summer when he was recovering from a broken sore left thumb but recovered in time to plunder three consecutive centuries against New Zealand.
Australia's vice-captain believed that experience would bode him well for his current travails. "I had eight weeks last year before the first Test [against New Zealand] with the thumb, so I am looking forward to getting out there... I think I play my best cricket when I am fresh," Warner told the media on Sunday (July 24).
"The last six to seven weeks has been fantastic. Obviously, I hit a bit of a form patch where I was going ok and you never want to sit out matches but, obviously, due to a break I was forced to do that. But I am ready to go and can't wait."
Warner said he was still experiencing pain but believed it would not be a major hindrance. "I have experienced that before with the thumb so, just for the game moving forward, I'll use the same thing that I did with the thumb I'll put a guard over the top [of the finger], underneath the glove, which has a bit of a silicon feel to it, so it stops a bit of vibration," he said.
Warner said he would use a plastic guard when fielding and still hoped to take his spot in the slips. Despite being renowned as a dynamic and aggressive batsman, Warner preached a sedate approach in Sri Lanka. "You've got to be patient," Warner said. "You've got to rotate the strike. Your patience comes with hitting your four balls, your boundary balls. They're the ones you've got to really wait on.
"That's what we'll talking about with patience in this game, especially over here, he added. The challenge for us is about batting long periods of time. You've got to be able to bat well into the next day and that's the focus for us. If I have to bat for a day or a day-and- a-half, I go out there and I try to do that. But the element of my game is to try to score runs."
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