No place like home as Warner rises from the Ashes

It took David Warner just 20 overs in the middle of Adelaide Oval – by which time he had completed his maiden T20 International century – to remember the boost that comes from home crowd support.

Warner was playing his first game in national men's team colours since his 12-month suspension lifted last year, and duly celebrated the occasion which also coincided with his 33rd birthday.

And while he was delighted to register his first three-figure score in a format he has otherwise dominated since he debuted as a T20 power-hitter more than a decade ago, it was the reception he received from 16,268 fans at Adelaide Oval that proved icing on his cake.

The left-hander endured some torrid days in England during Australia's Ashes campaign earlier this year, when he struggled for runs and was taunted by crowds at most venues.

But those memories dimmed when Warner pushed the final delivery of Australia's innings to the off-side for a single that brought his ton, and then his trademark celebratory leap as the crowd stood as one to applaud.

"It's always fantastic to get that," Warner said in the wake of Australia's clinical 134-run win over Sri Lanka to launch the men's international summer in emphatic style.

"You sit back and watch on TV, when you watch highlights of other people's packages and stuff and you forget how much it actually drives you when you’re out there.

"We absolutely love the peoples' support, love the Australian crowd coming out and supporting us, and we always try and put on a show for them.

"They don't realise how much of an impact it has for us players when we're out there.

"When you've got that support behind a team, or you've got that support yourself, it's a massive boost in confidence for us and for the other people who are out there playing."

Warner's unbeaten 100 from 56 deliveries, laced with 10 boundaries and four sixes which saw him equal Shane Watson's record for most T20I sixes for Australia (84), carried his team to their biggest win in the shortest format.

It was also a near-perfect execution of the game plan Australia had aimed to take into the match, and carry through to the ICC T20 World Cup to be played at home next year.

"We out to come out and try be positive with the bat," Warner said after his team posted their highest T20I total on home soil.

"I think the way forward is exactly that, where we try and set the tone at the top and then Maxi (Glenn Maxwell, 62 from 28 balls) coming in and doing what he does.

"For once, the plan actually came off.

"That was, all in all, a great batting performance and obviously the bowlers finished it off there."

Sri Lanka's Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who was among the early casualties of Sri Lanka's top-order batting collapse, admitted his team had been outplayed from virtually the opening over.

"It was a clinical performance by the bowlers of Australia (and) they batted really well," Rajapaksa said.

"We had some plans to keep them under a good score, but things didn’t come off for us as well as we planned.

"But we don’t want to lose our hope and we don’t want to put our heads down.

"I’m sure our boys will bounce back very soon, and … have better plans next time."

Rajapaksa admitted the short turnaround between Sunday's loss and the second match of the Gillette T20 International Series in Brisbane offered both a blessing and a curse for the inexperienced touring team.

While the scheduling of the next game at the Gabba on Wednesday evening means Sri Lanka have no choice but to move on quickly, Rajapaksa noted they would prefer to have more time to acclimatise to Australia conditions.

"It goes either way," he said.

"We’d like to have another couple of days to practice … but we’ve got so much travelling as well so we need to adapt really soon.

"So we’re hoping to get ourselves back together and deliver better.”

Gillette T20 INTLs v Sri Lanka

Australia squad: Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Ashton Turner, David Warner, Adam Zampa, Sean Abbott (from game two)

Sri Lanka squad: Lasith Malinga (c), Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis, Danushka Gunathilaka, Avishka Fernando, Niroshan Dickwella, Dasun Shanaka, Shehan Jayasuriya, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Oshada Fernando, Wanindu Hasaranga, Lakshan Sandakan, Nuwan Pradeep, Lahiru Kumara, Isuru Udana, Kasun Rajitha

First T20: Australia won by 134 runs

October 30: Second T20I, Gabba, 6.10pm (Fox & Kayo)

November 1: Third T20I, MCG, 7.10pm (Fox & Kayo)

Gillette T20 INTLs v Pakistan

Pakistan squad: Babar Azam (c), Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Imam-ul-Haq, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Musa Khan, Shadab Khan, Usman Qadir.

November 3: First T20I, SCG, 2.30pm (Fox & Kayo)

November 5: Second T20I, Manuka Oval, 7.10pm (Fox & Kayo)

November 8: Third T20I, Perth Stadium, 4.30pm (Fox & Kayo)