'It's absurd': David Warner's manager in stunning swipe at Cricket Australia
David Warner’s manager has launched a stunning spray at Cricket Australia after the governing body flagged a possible one-day series to take place during ‘The Hundred’.
‘The Hundred’ is a new eight-team competition that will take place in England in July.
The divisive new format sees each team face 100 balls per innings, consisting of 15 traditional six-ball overs followed by a 10-ball over to finish the innings.
‘PAID THE PRICE’: Kohli's 'disrespectful' act backfires against Australia
WHOOPS: Steve Waugh's funny blunder in ODI cap presentation
Some of the biggest names in world cricket have signed up to take part, including Aussies like Warner, Steve Smith, Aaron Finch and Mitchell Starc.
However Cricket Australia has thrown Warner’s participation into question by announcing that a one-day series against Zimbabwe - originally scheduled for June - might be moved back to August.
Warner’s manager James Erskine says it would be wrong for Cricket Australia to change the schedule after players have already committed to playing elsewhere.
“There was no cricket on at the time. Cricket Australia can’t basically schedule retrospectively against the Hundred. There are lots of Australians who have made commitments to the Hundred,” Erskine told the Sydney Morning Herald on Wednesday.
“My gut feeling is they (the players) will all turn around and say, ‘Find some other dates’. They have got to get their scheduling much further in advance, they can’t just do it now. That’s my view.
“They have got to really think about what they are doing here. They have stuffed up their summer of cricket with a deal with India. They have got to be very careful with what they do. They are meant to be custodians of the game. Quite frankly, they have got to get their act together.
“Cricket Australia can’t then go and schedule something after they have made commitments to the Hundred. It would be absurd.”
Erskine’s reference to India is the one-day series Australia is currently playing on the sub-continent - a rare away series during the Aussie summer.
Warner and Finch combine for insane record
Warner is on track for the greatest-ever summer by an Australian batsman after whacking his fifth century of the season in the Aussies' flogging of India on Tuesday.
Warner's 128 from 112 balls in the series-opening 10-wicket ODI win took his tally for the season to 1201 runs across all formats, at an average of above 171.57
Remarkably, he is the only Australian in history to average more than 100 in a summer of 10 matches or more.
Michael Bevan is the next best, with his 665 runs at 95 in 1998-99 the current record for the best average by an Australian batsman for a complete summer.
Warner's summer has also included his maiden Twenty20 century against Sri Lanka and the second highest Test score in Australian history with 335no against Pakistan.
With a maximum of 14 innings still available to him, Ricky Ponting's run-scoring record of 2436 from 2005-06 is also not out of the question for the left-hander.
"I have a hunger and a desire to score runs all the time," Warner said.
"I'm really making the most of it at the moment, my feet are moving well. I'm getting my head over my front leg. Weight is going through the ball.
"When you are in that kind of form and touch and everything is going well for you, you have to make sure you are practising the same and doing all the hard work."
with AAP
