The
35-year-old
Warner
had
been
short
of
game
time
and
runs
over
the
past
12
months
but
made
a
welcome
return
to
form
on
Saturday
(November
6),
smashing
an
unbeaten
89
–
the
highest
score
by
an
Australian
at
a
T20
World
Cup
–
in
the
eight-wicket
victory
against
the
West
Indies.

“He
(Warner)
is
literally
elite
fit.
He’s
always
fit,
but
he’s
at
a
different
level
at
the
moment
and
that
tells
me
…
you
don’t
just
flick
a
switch
and
become
fit,
you’ve
got
to
work
very
hard
at
his
age,”
Langer
said.

T20
World
Cup:
Vintage
Warner
seals
eight-wicket
thrashing
of
Windies

“You
saw
the
way
he
played,
ran
between
the
wickets
in
hot
conditions,
and
that’s
a
great
tribute
to
his
professionalism
and
how
hungry
he
is
to
keep
playing
great
cricket,”
he
was
quoted
as
saying
in
cricket.com.au
website.

Having
Warner
back
to
his
best
can
make
the
Australians
a
difficult
proposition
for
any
opponent
in
the
knockout
stage.

Australia
qualified
for
the
semifinals
as
Group
1
runners-up
on
the
basis
of
better
net
run
rate
than
South
Africa,
who
ended
third
and
eliminated
from
the
tournament
despite
beating
toppers
England
on
Saturday
(November
6).

England,
Australia
and
South
Africa
ended
with
eight
points
each
and
top
two
in
the
table
was
decided
on
the
basis
of
net
run
rate.

Langer
and
his
great
friend
Matthew
Hayden,
who
forged
one
of
cricket’s
best
opening
partnerships,
will
become
enemies
for
a
likely
semifinal
clash
between
Australia
and
Pakistan.

Hayden
is
currently
the
batting
coach
of
Pakistan.
Pakistan
have
been
the
dominant
team
of
the
tournament
and
they
are
likely
to
finish
Group
2
winners
–
if
they
beat
minnows
Scotland
–
which
will
set
them
up
against
Australia
in
the
semifinals.

“We’ve
been
back
and
forth
messaging
throughout
the
tournament.
He’s
(Hayden)
really
enjoying
(coaching
Pakistan’s
batters).
No
insights
though,
we’ve
been
keeping
business
to
business,”
Langer
said.

“It’s
going
to
be
good
to
see
him
because
I
haven’t
seen
him
for
a
long
time.
There’s
lots
of
relationships
in
cricket,
but
when
it
comes
to
Thursday
night,
we’ll
put
our
friendships
down
for
three
hours
and
we’ll
get
down
to
business
so
it
should
be
good
fun.”

Langer
and
Hayden
opened
the
batting
together
in
113
Test
innings,
smashing
5655
runs
at
an
average
51.88
during
a
golden
era
of
Australian
cricket.