Groin injury could take nine months to heal, says Warner

“I am almost back to full 100 per cent sprinting in a straight line. This next week is getting back to fielding, picking up, throwing, very difficult that was last couple of weeks, even trying to throw,” Warner said on Fox Cricket.

“Now it’s all about lateral, running between wickets, building that up. It’s just the tendon that has got that slight tear in it now. It’s going to aggravate me for the next six to nine months but I am sure the medicos will help me out there.″⁣

Warner had been chosen for this month’s now aborted three-Test tour of South Africa, having said playing “four-day cricket, Test-match cricket is OK” but it’s in the Twenty20 version which he said was “very difficult to go back to back”.

“I have spoken to a few people that have actually had that type of injury and they have just said it’s a niggle. You have just got to teach your brain to not worry about the pain and that it’s not going to happen again. It’s just getting back that confidence to side step and run as hard as I can and dive around again,” he said.

“Once I get that, I will be right to go. It’s just not 100 per cent there yet.″⁣

Hard-hitting left-hander Devon Conway (99 not out off 59 balls) was the backbone of the Black Caps’ 5-184 which helped the home side to a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

Conway needed to take charge after the in-form Tim Seifert (1 off 5) and Kane Williamson (12 off 13) fell cheaply and he did just that with 10 boundaries and three sixes. A thumping six over mid-wicket off the third-last ball of the innings by paceman Jhye Richardson (2-31 off four) took him to 94, and a clipped drive next delivery through mid-on off a full toss took him to 98, leaving him two off the final ball to reach a maiden Twenty20 international ton. But the best he could do was slash to deep point for a single.

Regardless, it was a match-turning innings at Hagley Oval after the home side, sent in to bat, had slipped to 3-34 after the six-over powerplay.

In reply, skipper Aaron Finch’s (1 off 2) recent batting woes continued when, again with little foot movement, he slashed to point, while debutant Josh Philippe (2 off 3) skied a top edge.

Veteran batsmen Matthew Wade (12 off 12) and Glenn Maxwell (1 off 5), the latter caught at second slip off a mistimed drive, failed to steady the innings and left the tourists’ hopes all but shattered at 4-19 in the fifth over. Mitch Marsh (45 off 33) and Ashton Agar (23 of 13) put on 42 in good time but, having been torpedoed for 131 in 17.3 overs, there is much for the panicked visitors – without the likes of Steve Smith and Warner on hand – to think about ahead of game two in Dunedin on Thursday.

This opening clash was held amid the backdrop of emotional commemorations of the 10-year anniversary since a devastating earthquake killed 185 people in Christchurch.