Aussies 'highly unlikely' to tour England: Warner

Australia's scheduled limited-overs tour of England and Scotland this winter appears in grave doubt after star batsman David Warner admitted it was "highly unlikely" the tour would go ahead amid the global coronavirus pandemic.

Australia have been scheduled to meet Scotland in a T20 on June 29 before playing three T20s and three ODIs against the 50-over World Cup holders England from July 3.

That had been mooted to be pushed back two months until September with the England and Wales Cricket Board suspending all cricket in the country until at least July 1, meaning England's Test series with the West Indies set for June has already been rescheduled.

The ECB chief executive Tom Harrison said any further delays to their season starting would likely mean "losing cricket rather than rescheduling" with England also hoping to play Tests and T20s against Pakistan and ODIs against Ireland in their season.

Australia has already seen a two-Test tour of Bangladesh that had been scheduled for June called off, while a planned limited-overs home series against Zimbabwe in August is also unlikely to proceed.

A trip to England would have offered Australia the chance to avenge their defeat in last year's World Cup semi-final for the ODI side, while also allowing important development for the T20 team ahead of this year's World Cup that is scheduled for October and November.

"At the moment it's highly unlikely we're going to go over there given what's happened in England," Warner told cricket.com.au today, citing the COVID-19 infection to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson as an indicator of the seriousness of the problem there.

"He's back up on his feet now and that's fantastic news, but there's a lot more to this than just sport being played," Warner added.

"The biggest picture is making sure we're doing all the right things we can to flatten this curve and doing what we can do to play our bit in that.

"We've done a great job so far and all Australians should be credited."

When cricket does resume, it is possible it will to be played in front of empty stands with fans excluded, but that is something Warner hopes can be avoided, despite the treatment he received from England fans at last year's World Cup and Ashes.

"No doubt at all, you want crowds no matter where you go and where you play," Warner said.

"I love playing in England, it's awesome. You've always got someone they always try and rev up, and fortunately for the team it's pretty much just me, and that takes a lot of the heat off the other guys.

"I'm quite thick-skinned and it doesn't really affect me at all. I just laugh it off and play along with the crowd.

"We're there to put bums on seats and hopefully we can entertain the crowd by playing a good brand of cricket."

Warner starred for Australia in the World Cup after a shaky start, but struggled badly in the Ashes as he fell seven times to Stuart Broad, making just 95 runs for the series.

He was quick to put that horror show behind him with an incredible home summer that yielded three centuries, including the stunning 335 not out at the Adelaide Oval.

"I had one bad series. Broady had my measure, he pitched the ball up and I've got to learn from there what I can, and what I can do next time," Warner said.

"What I did well at home this summer was my defence was very good and I really put a big emphasis on that and worked hard on that.

"And I hope I can work hard to ensuring that same part of my game is taken back over there if I'm lucky enough to keep going that far."

Warner would be 36 by the time of the next Ashes tour if the series remains on its current schedule once the sport resumes.

He points out that he averaged 46.44 during Australia's 2015 tour, and that openers from both sides struggled throughout the series.

"It's a difficult place to bat. The positive I see is that both teams lost their openers quite early in all the games," Warner said.

"It was a very difficult place to bat with the new ball last year. So there's still a lot of positives to come out of it."