Abu Dhabi - Australian captain Aaron Finch has warned the Proteas of the wounded beast as he expects David Warner to come out firing in their T20 World Cup opening game on Saturday.
Warner has been out-of-sorts for a period time and has looked nothing like the explosive batsman that he has been throughout his career.
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The power-packed opener lost his place at his Indian Premier League side, the Sunrisers Hyderabad recently, and has played just four innings - two in the IPL and two this week - since April.
Altogether he has faced only 14 balls and scored three runs with his last innings being a duck in the warm-up game against New Zealand.
However, Finch is backing his long-time opening partner to hit the ground running at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium.
"I'm backing Dave's ability. I'm backing his judgment. I think, if you look at his World Cup history, he's just bloody good. Would he have liked more runs? Absolutely. Everyone would like more runs all the time," Finch told reporters in Abu Dhabi.
"He's one of the greatest players that Australia has ever produced, and I've got no doubts that come Game 1 he'll be up and firing and ready to go."
It certainly does seem like the Aussies are rallying around one of their most experienced batters, with former fast bowler Brett Lee also sending lots of love Warner's way.
"This Australian side is loaded with talent and for me, the key is David Warner," Lee wrote in his column for the ICC.com
"I would like to say he is saving the runs for the games that count after his IPL form! He was really harshly dealt with there and it may have knocked some confidence out of him but he thrives on the big stage. Everything should be rosy for him here, class is permanent."
There is no doubt that South Africa's pace kingpin Kagsio Rabada is lining up the fragile Warner in another instalment of their epic battles through the years.
It will certainly be interesting to see whether Rabada shares a few choice words with Warner early on just to remind him of his current slump in form.
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