David Warner bats No. 3, hit 39 in the warm-up match for Australia

In what the Australian cricket management could call a surprising move, David Warner was slotted on Monday’s inofficial World Cup warm-up match against New Zealand XI in Brisbane to bat at number 3.

Captain Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja opened the innings for Australia XI, a development that indicates that Warner may not just go back to the World Cup opening position in England starting May 30.

Warner was in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in stupendous shape as he scored 692 runs in the 12 matches he played for the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at a magnificent average of almost 70. All those runs came to the opening position and he would also have been thinking about opening the innings to his national side.