Warner vows to keep attacking mindset

The enhanced spin conditions that Australia's batters have encountered but failed to negotiate during their Test series loss against Sri Lanka require an overtly aggressive rather than a cautiously passive game plan, according to opener and vice-captain David Warner.

Warner, who was Australia's most consistent batter in the second Test loss at Galle last week where he reached 40 in both innings, concedes that it is his nature to take the game to rival bowlers.

But as his team fine-tuned their preparation for the dead-rubber third Test in Colombo today, the left-hander also admitted that playing conservatively and allowing Sri Lanka's spinners to settle into a rhythm and a routine was a recipe for disaster.

Especially on bone-dry pitches like the one they encountered at Galle, where Sri Lanka completed a 229-run win inside three days – and the even-drier version the tourists encountered when they arrived for training at Colombo's SSC Stadium this morning

"You're sitting ducks when you're facing six balls in a row – one of them is going to have your name on it," Warner said in highlighting the need for batters to be proactive and work the ball around the field to get off strike and relieve pressure, albeit momentarily.

"Especially when one turns and one doesn't turn.

"It's a hard game.

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"People don't realise that you're going out here (on Sri Lankan pitches) day one and day two, and it's turning square, where maybe five or six years ago probably day three, day four was probably when it was turning.

"So it's hard work from ball one and we really have to work hard, and that starts in the nets."

Even though he recorded a rare double failure in the first Test at Kandy where he was dismissed for zero and one, Warner believes the attacking philosophy that has seen him become one of the Test game's most dominant and feared openers holds up well in subcontinental conditions.

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As such, the Australian top-order's ability to assert themselves against a bowling line-up that has proved both unreadable and untameable over the past two Tests will provide selectors with a clear idea who has the ability to adapt their game for Asian conditions.

An important consideration given the next offshore Test series to loom large on the horizon is the four-Test tour to India in February and March next year.

"You have to think outside the box, for me to come out of my crease personally it's something I don't normally do but you have to do it in these conditions," Warner said today.

"For me it's about thinking on my feet, using my feet when I'm out there and hopefully putting the bowler off some of his rhythm.

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"But you have to be on (guard) the whole day and that's the hardest thing about this game.

"Concentrating and backing your skill for the whole day, to come out of your crease, to try to fox.

"To do that all day takes a lot of mental skill and that's something that when I'm out there I'm going to have to think on my feet, and same with the other boys."