David Warner has trained his sights on participating in the 2019 ICC World Cup with Australia after making his National Territory Strike League debut for the City Cyclones on Saturday.

The banned Australia star struck a fluent 32-ball 36 in his side’s win over Cameron Bancroft’s Northern Tide at Darwin.

The left-handed opener was opener was handed a 12-month ban by Cricket Australia for his role in the ball-tampering episode which occurred during the side’s tour of South Africa earlier this year.

Warner recently made a return to competitive cricket in the inaugural Global T20 Canada league where he took on the captaincy duties for Winnipeg Hawks midway through the tournament. His Saturday appearance for the City Cyclones was his first in a domestic tournament in Australia ever since he was handed the ban.

With the World Cup in England now less than 12 months away, Warner is hoping to step up his preparations in the near future.

“I’m pretty good when I’m fresh,” Warner was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au after his NT Strike League debut.

Warner was dismissed for 36 in his NT Strike League debut.

“If you look at the last 12 months, I played basically every game (for Australia) and didn’t get a rest. I had a five-day turnaround before the first Test in South Africa and I led the team in (the T20 tri-series in Australia and) New Zealand when some of the other guys had a rest.

“So I know that the breaks do me (good), and you don’t lose form overnight. You can be a bit scratchy, but time in the nets and … I wake up every day and face Mitchell Starc, (Pat) Cummins and (Josh) Hazlewood, the best bowlers, I feel, in the world.”

The 31-year-old believes facing the Australia pace trio in the nets along with a stint in next year’s IPL will hold him in great stead for the World Cup.

“If I can face them (Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood) consistently at training when the ban’s up, that gets you back in. You’ve got plenty of warm-up games (before the World Cup), and I’ll be playing the IPL as well leading into that,” Warner explained.

“So there’s plenty of cricket and plenty of world-class players to play against, as well to get my preparation on song,” he added.

Australia will come in as the defending champions for the 2019 World Cup edition after lifting the crown at home in 2015.