Dale Steyn warns Australia against dropping David Warner and backs him to bounce back from Ashes struggles

The legendary South African paceman described Warner as “one of the best batters I’ve ever bowled to” despite awful Test return

Dale Steyn has told Australia to stick with David Warner at the top of the order, despite the opening batsman's horror Ashes series.

Steyn, one of the finest fast bowlers in Test history, believes Warner's nightmare tour of England will prove to be a blip.

Despite a poor record in this year’s Ashes, where he averaged 9.5, Warner averages almost 70 in seven Tests against Steyn and the South African is in no doubt he will quickly return to his best.

He said: “He's one of the best batters I've ever bowled to. He puts you under pressure from ball one on day one of a Test match.

“You have to take what he can give your side. He's been found wanting around the wicket against someone like [Stuart] Broad attacking that off-stump. Sometimes that can happen.

“But he'll get to Australia, he'll find some form, he'll be playing around his mates and his home crowd and things can quickly change for him.

“World class players don't become rubbish overnight, especially over one tour. He'll be fine, I wouldn't drop him at all.”

The opening batsman endured a torrid Ashes series on a personal level, making just 95 runs in 10 innings, 61 of which came in one effort at Headingley. In the process, he became the first man in Test history to be dismissed for a single-figure score eight times in a five-match series.

Having enjoyed a fruitful return from his ball-tampering ban, scoring freely in both the Indian Premier League and the World Cup, he struggled against the red ball. He was not alone, of course, in a series that saw Marcus Harris and Cam Bancroft also short on runs.

Justin Langer and Tim Paine have both spoken in Warner’s favour since the conclusion of the series in England, suggesting that he is likely to retain his place and that his prior record will work in his favour. Even in spite of his struggle this summer, he averages 45.47 in Test cricket and 59.64 in Australia.

Ahead of this week’s Sheffield Shield opening round, Australian head selector Trevor Hohns insisted all batsman would be given a fresh start but refused to guarantee Warner would retain his spot in the Test side.

Hohns said on Tuesday: “The slate’s wiped clean of course after the Ashes, there are different conditions in England.

“Make no bones about it, there are two or three batting spots up for grabs.”

^{Steve Smith enjoyed a phenomenal Ashes series}

While Warner struggled in the Ashes, Smith played some transcendental cricket reminiscent of Don Bradman, in the pair's first Test involvement since the Cape Town sandpaper saga last year.

Steyn, who recently signed for Melbourne Stars for this season’s Big Bash League, remains the only bowler to have ever dismissed the world's best batsman for a golden duck in Tests, trapping Smith lbw first ball in 2014.

The 36-year-old, who retired from Test cricket in August, added of the Australian talisman: “When I bowled to batters like Michael Vaughan or Jacques Kallis who were classical, technically perfect, sound batters, I always found that I could get them out.

“It was only the weird guys like Shiv Chanderpaul and Steve Smith, who really confused you about the line you should be bowling – whether on the stumps or outside the stumps.

“He's just in a league of his own right now and I'm very happy that I don't have to play Test matches against him ever again.”