- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Australian opener David Warner says the switch hit is here to stay but isn’t getting a great deal of support from team-mate and former captain Ricky Ponting.
The left-handed slugger turned right-hander for a sweetly struck six off the bowling of Ravi Ashwin in Australia’s T20 win against India at ANZ Stadium last Wednesday.
The shot, not new but rarely seen in international cricket, has already enjoyed 52,000 views of YouTube.
Asked by Fox Sport’s Inside Cricket program about whether he’d continue to employ the technique, Warner was unequivocal.
“If you are capable of doing it and practise it, fair enough you can do it,” said Warner, who batted for an entire season right-handed when playing in the under 13s.
“If you are going to do it, you are going to have to practise it because it is not something that comes naturally.”
Warner said he’d spoken with Australian skipper Michael Clarke about using the shot 18 months ago but didn’t unleash it until the Champions League last season when he had some difficulty facing spinner Ashwin.
“I had the confidence through that Champions League to keep bringing it out then obviously the other night I was a bit bogged down so I thought why not bring it out and relieve a bit of the pressure.”
Ponting though, indicated he wasn’t exactly a fan of the stroke.
“I’d probably just rather see it just played with the hands on the bat the same way so it becomes a reverse hit rather than a switch hit. I think that would probably be fairer,” Ponting said.
“There’s a lot of restrictions placed on the bowlers these days – where they can bowl, bowling over and around the wicket and that sort of thing.
“A bowler has to let the umpire know if he is going to bowl over or around the wicket and the batter doesn’t have to let him know whether he is going to hit it right or left handed.
“From a bowler’s point of view they’d probably be jumping up and down about it.”
But Warner said it wasn’t a shot he’d be putting back in the quiver any time soon – even if he got out a few times attempting it.
“I have showed people that I can do it … so I am going to keep doing it and if I get out I get out,” he said.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.