KFC Twenty20 preview

The focus shifts to the Gabba for Tuesday's second KFC Twenty20 International between Australia and South Africa, where an expected sell-out crowd will be praying for a repeat of the sensational hitting that made David Warner's international debut truly unforgettable.

Warner's explosive 89 from 43 deliveries at the MCG on Sunday - lauded by skipper Ricky Ponting as 'special clean striking' comparable to Adam Gilchrist's best - set up the hosts for a comfortable 52-run victory.

The question now is, can the 22-year-old back it up?

With just a handful of eye-catching KFC Twenty20 Big Bash and Ford Ranger Cup performances for New South Wales to his credit and no first class experience at all, Warner was accompanied to the crease at the 'G' on Sunday by an element of speculation.

Any queries about whether he could reproduce his domestic form at international level were resolved quick smart however, when he helped himself to four sixes and five fours from his first 18 deliveries.

A star had arrived.

But what Warner needs to deal with in Brisbane that he didn't in Melbourne is the expectation of the public that's elevated him from being a bit player with a big reputation to the game's No.1 attraction on the strength of one innings.

How he copes will have a huge bearing on the result and will tell the cricket world whether he's as hard-headed as he is hard-hitting.

Paceman Ryan Harris, left out of the starting line-up in game one, looks a nice fit for an Australian debut at 'home' at the Gabba, but it's unlikely that he'll displace Shaun Tait, whose return to international cricket on Sunday was almost as dazzling as Warner's.

Up in the mid-150s from his opening delivery, Tait almost decapitated Jacques Kallis before striking AB de Villiers on the right hip which reduced the Proteas star batsman to a crumpled heap and cost him his wicket when he dropped his bat on the stumps.



The South Africans were shell-shocked after the MCG debacle, but they will regroup, renovate their game plan and come out hard in Brisbane.

The tourists' five limited-overs specialists drafted into Sunday's starting line-up - Herschelle Gibbs, Albie Morkel, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Vaughn van Jaarsveld and skipper Johan Botha - will be better for the run.

And the Proteas will have seen enough of Warner to at least be able to formulate a strategy - something that was missing in the critical early stages in Melbourne.