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Kandy - Stand-in Australia skipper, David Warner, has revealed his relief after scoring a century in the fifth and final ODI against Sri Lanka in Kandy.
The score of 106 off 126 balls was Warner's first above 20 in the ODI series and saw him become the first Australian ever to score an ODI hundred in Sri Lanka.
Speaking after the match, Warner said: "When I was out there it was obviously about trying to get the runs and stay there till the end and that's the way that I had to try and play tonight,
"It's obviously great to get a hundred but for me it was a bit of sigh of relief. I never doubted myself and kept backing and executing my plans. You do need a bit of luck in this game and I'm pretty sure I hit that one to short leg (leg slip) but that's part and parcel of the game, you get a bit of luck your way and fortunate tonight I got that luck."
Warner admitted he may have got a slice of luck when on 22 he appeared to get a faint edge on a Sachith Pathirana delivery that then struck his pad and looped up to leg slip, but Sri Lanka chose not to review after Aleem Dar gave the Aussie skipper not out.
On the incident Warner commented: "It was a semi, half appeal,
"The bowler came up to me and said 'Lucky, you hit that one' and I said 'Yeah, I think I did'.
"I wasn't 100% [sure]. The keeper thought I didn't hit it. I think there was a faint edge. That's the luck. The responsibility is on the players as well, they've got to make that decision to either use a referral or not. They still had it up their sleeve."
Far from his normal hyper-aggressive style, Warner showed great maturity to anchor the innings and steady the ship with George Bailey.
The left-hander added: "It was almost going back to the Test matches and trying to grind but still try to rotate the strike,
"Me and Bails out there we were actually saying to each other that we feel like we're trying to play that big shot and we were telling each other to try and rotate the strike because you always want that sense of relief somewhere, because they weren't giving us any bad balls to put away.
"So we just had to try and grind away and use the bit of pace they were giving on the ball, and try to sweep and reverse sweep as much as we can.
"That was the game plan we had to try and manufacture [shots]. It is quite handy sometimes when you don't have that rhythm or hitting the ball out of the middle and to actually be able to play that kind of role it does help."
When pressed on why Australia were whitewashed in the Tests but managed a 4-1 win in the ODIs Warner replied: "From my own personal experience, it comes down to runs on the board and the pressure.
"We all talk about taking the game on and in these conditions you still have to look to score. When we're at home, we always have that intent to score,
"That's when our boys are playing our best. If you face six balls in these conditions, then one is going to have your name in it.
"In these conditions you're going to have to sweep, you need to use your feet, you're going to have to watch the ball hard onto the bat where you can't leave the ball because one is going to skid on. They're the variables in this game and I think that's where we lacked a little bit [in the Tests].
"We didn't adapt fast enough. In the one-day game you get some release because you can't have those catchers around the bat.
"You can, but [against the] white ball you can play these kinds of shots, there's no reason why you can't play in the Test matches. That's how you're going to have to score in these conditions."
The score of 106 off 126 balls was Warner's first above 20 in the ODI series and saw him become the first Australian ever to score an ODI hundred in Sri Lanka.
Speaking after the match, Warner said: "When I was out there it was obviously about trying to get the runs and stay there till the end and that's the way that I had to try and play tonight,
"It's obviously great to get a hundred but for me it was a bit of sigh of relief. I never doubted myself and kept backing and executing my plans. You do need a bit of luck in this game and I'm pretty sure I hit that one to short leg (leg slip) but that's part and parcel of the game, you get a bit of luck your way and fortunate tonight I got that luck."
Warner admitted he may have got a slice of luck when on 22 he appeared to get a faint edge on a Sachith Pathirana delivery that then struck his pad and looped up to leg slip, but Sri Lanka chose not to review after Aleem Dar gave the Aussie skipper not out.
On the incident Warner commented: "It was a semi, half appeal,
"The bowler came up to me and said 'Lucky, you hit that one' and I said 'Yeah, I think I did'.
"I wasn't 100% [sure]. The keeper thought I didn't hit it. I think there was a faint edge. That's the luck. The responsibility is on the players as well, they've got to make that decision to either use a referral or not. They still had it up their sleeve."
Far from his normal hyper-aggressive style, Warner showed great maturity to anchor the innings and steady the ship with George Bailey.
The left-hander added: "It was almost going back to the Test matches and trying to grind but still try to rotate the strike,
"Me and Bails out there we were actually saying to each other that we feel like we're trying to play that big shot and we were telling each other to try and rotate the strike because you always want that sense of relief somewhere, because they weren't giving us any bad balls to put away.
"So we just had to try and grind away and use the bit of pace they were giving on the ball, and try to sweep and reverse sweep as much as we can.
"That was the game plan we had to try and manufacture [shots]. It is quite handy sometimes when you don't have that rhythm or hitting the ball out of the middle and to actually be able to play that kind of role it does help."
When pressed on why Australia were whitewashed in the Tests but managed a 4-1 win in the ODIs Warner replied: "From my own personal experience, it comes down to runs on the board and the pressure.
"We all talk about taking the game on and in these conditions you still have to look to score. When we're at home, we always have that intent to score,
"That's when our boys are playing our best. If you face six balls in these conditions, then one is going to have your name in it.
"In these conditions you're going to have to sweep, you need to use your feet, you're going to have to watch the ball hard onto the bat where you can't leave the ball because one is going to skid on. They're the variables in this game and I think that's where we lacked a little bit [in the Tests].
"We didn't adapt fast enough. In the one-day game you get some release because you can't have those catchers around the bat.
"You can, but [against the] white ball you can play these kinds of shots, there's no reason why you can't play in the Test matches. That's how you're going to have to score in these conditions."
