Aussies unfazed by Warner's drought

Australia's T20 camp has insisted David Warner is not feeling the pinch of a gruelling summer despite the stand-in skipper extending his form slump on Saturday.

Despite his side cruising to their third straight win of the Gillette T20 trans-Tasman tri-series in Melbourne, Warner's rough trot continued at the MCG after he nicked a textbook out-swinger from England left-armer David Willey.

It was his fifth single-digit score from his last eight innings and the opener has now struck just 85 runs at 10.62 across the three games of the Australian leg of the T20 tri-series and the five preceding ODIs against England.

It comes after a strong Magellan Ashes campaign from Warner, who struck 441 runs at 63 and posted his 21^st Test ton at the MCG.

The ensuing lean patch from one of the world's most damaging limited-overs players has led some to question whether he's in need of a rest, but fast bowler Kane Richardson says his energetic approach to the T20 captaincy suggests weariness is not the cause of his run drought.

"He's been amazing, you wouldn't know that he's in a form slump because his captaincy has been amazing," Richardson told reporters after Australia's seven-wicket victory.

"He's been really good for all the young bowlers.

"It's a fairly inexperienced bowling attack but the way he's managed us all and been bouncing ideas off everyone in games and at training has been amazing.

"You could probably look into it that, (because) he hasn't made any runs so far, he needs a rest, but his attitude and the way he's carried the group in training and in games doesn't suggest that at all."

Despite having played more international cricket than any Australian over the last two years, Warner is the only member of Australia's Ashes-winning squad to be playing in this ongoing T20 tri-series.

Since the beginning of Australia's 2016 Test tour of Sri Lanka, the left-hander has missed just five games across all formats. Last week Warner suggested Steve Smith, who has missed 14 games over that same period, was in need of a break ahead of the upcoming four-Test series in South Africa.

"It was a mixture of thoughts and opinions and pros and cons of me staying (on for the T20s)," Warner said ahead of the T20 series..

"Given the nature of how big our summer has been and Smithy being captain, we've probably felt he probably needed that rest as well.

"(Before) a big series in South Africa, it allows the other guys the opportunity to freshen up and play well."

Warner is set to miss Australia's only red-ball tour game ahead of the South Africa Test tour, but has said he doesn't believe it will be an issue.

The 31-year-old is also in the midst of a slump in T20 Internationals that stretches back to the beginning of the last World T20 in March 2016, a puzzling trend given he's also had two 600-plus Indian Premier League seasons during that time, but hasn't been able to translate that onto the international stage.

He's struck 113 runs at 10.27 in his last 11 T20Is, but scored 848 runs at 60 in the 2016 IPL and 641 runs at 58 in the 2017 edition.

Australia booked their place in the final of the T20 tri-series with their victory over England in Melbourne. Given both Friday's final group-stage game against New Zealand and the tournament decider will be played at Auckland's Eden Park, Richardson is tipping Warner to feast on the ground's famed straight boundaries.

"He's super competitive and he's obviously got an opportunity to captain the team which he doesn't always do, with Steve normally playing every game," Richardson continued.

"We needed some leadership. I don’t think they wanted everyone (from the South Africa Test squad) to sit it out, they wanted someone to steer us through this series. His captaincy has been great.

"He's doing all the right things and we all know how good he is. Hopefully those short boundaries at Eden Park will play to his strengths."

Gillette T20 trans-Tasman Tri-Series

Australia squad: David Warner (c), Aaron Finch (vc), Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Ben Dwarshuis, Travis Head, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, D'Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa.

England squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, James Vince, David Willey, Mark Wood.

New Zealand squad: Kane Williamson (c), Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Anaru Kitchen, Colin Munro, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Ben Wheeler. 

First T20I Australia won by seven wickets. Scorecard

Second T20I Australia won by five wickets. Scorecard

Third T20I Australia won by seven wickets. Scorecard

Fourth T20I NZ v England, Wellington, February 14

Fifth T20I NZ v Australia, Eden Park, February 16

Sixth T20I NZ v England, Seddon Park, February 18

Final TBC, Eden Park, February 21