David Warner is coming into form just as Australia need him | Geoff Lemon

The man who legitimised T20 in his homeland has had a lean spell but has sprung to life in time for the World Cup knockouts

As Australia qualified for the Twenty20 World Cup semi-finals by chasing 158 against West Indies, the most important piece dropped into place with a click. David Warner is Australia’s defining T20 player, ever since rising to prominence with a pyrotechnic national debut back in 2009. His current captain, Aaron Finch, may edge him on career runs after 13 matches in the past year that Warner missed, but Warner has still played the most T20s for Australia. He more than anyone legitimised the format in Australia by crossing from it to become a Test success. All the while, he gathered more than 5,000 IPL runs.

In his most recent IPL season and his World Cup to date, his batting has done anything but click. His half-century against Sri Lanka was followed by a low score against England and an asthmatic wheeze against Bangladesh, unable to middle shots while needing to chase a small target at high speed to boost the team’s net run rate.