Australia head coach Andrew McDonald has insisted that David Warner remains in his plans for the forthcoming Ashes series. The 36-year-old has endured a lean run in the longest format of the game, recording just one 50-plus score in his last 15 visits to the crease, which incidentally was a double century at the last Boxing Day Test against South Africa.He was picked in the squads for both the one-off World Test Championship final as well as the Ashes series against England that follows but chief selector George Bailey was non-committal on the veteran's first-choice status in the latter of the two assignments in the UK given it is the start of a new cycle for the team. Bailey and team did pick Marcus Harris as a reserve opener with Matt Renshaw another contender to join Usman Khawaja at the top of the order.

McDonald though has opted to play down those alternatives for the time being, reiterating that Warner remained very much central in the team's scheme to retain the urn. "We're optimistic with what Dave's got left, we picked him in the squad and we feel he's going to play a really significant part in the Ashes and the World Test Championship final," the head coach told SEN on Wednesday (May 24)."He's an important part of that squad. And if he wasn't, then we would have had a clear checkpoint (to pick a new squad) after the World Test Championship. That's not the case... He's clearly in our plans, and he's ready to go. We're in constant contact with him. He knows exactly where he sits with us. That's why he's on the plane. We think he's got some good games left in him. "Part of the reasons for the question marks over Warner was his record in the last Ashes when he repeatedly fell to Stuart Broad's around-the-wicket angle. McDonald pointed at the 2015 series in the UK when the opener passed 50 in each of the five Tests to reinstate his ability against the moving Duke's ball. Apart from a defiant 200 against South Africa in December, Warner has struggled for runs in recent tests, making a total of 26 in three innings in the recent tour of India before returning home injured. He had a dire series in England during the last Ashes tour, averaging 9.50, the worst ever by an opener to play 10 innings in a series, with paceman Stuart Broad taking his wicket seven times. He had a better time of it in 2015, scoring 418 runs at an average of 46.44.Warner finished the Indian Premier League for Delhi Capitals with 516 runs at an average of 36.86, down on his career average of 41.54.