David Warner is leaning towards preferring Sam Konstas over Cameron Bancroft as his opening partner as the Test legend prepares for his first full BBL season with Sydney Thunder.
Only weeks after both pushed ultimately unsuccessful cases for the Test opening vacancy, Bancroft and Konstas are set for more internal competition at Thunder.
Nic Maddinson's finger surgery has left the pair as the two clearest options to partner new captain Warner at the top to start the BBL, which the pair enters with varying recent records.
Konstas, yet to make his BBL debut, memorably announced himself with twin centuries in New South Wales' first Shield game of the summer before making another for the Prime Ministers' XI in a 50-over match against the Indians last month.
Bancroft has failed to pass 20 in 15 of 19 digs across red and white-ball cricket this summer, but did make an unbeaten 105 in Western Australia's penultimate Sheffield Shield game before the break. Warner said a firm decision had not yet been made on the opening partnership.
"We'll speak about it this week, we'll see in the warm-up game. I'm probably erring between myself and probably Sammy Konstas at the top," he said.
Warner has been impressed by Konstas, but wants to talk shop with the 19-year-old ahead of Thunder's first game against Adelaide Strikers next Tuesday.
"We know he's talented but it's about going out there in the Twenty20 stuff and trying to work out how to sort of play that format as well, and what he's going to bring to the table," Warner said. "I'll have a chat to him about how he wants to play and what his style of cricket is as well.
"We'll have these conversations in the next couple of days about how we want to play and making sure that everyone's on the same page."
After being signed as a foundation player for the first BBL summer, Warner has dipped in and out of Thunder for the past two summers around Australian duties.
Now retired from internationals, the 38-year-old is set to play the entire tournament for the first time in a big boost for a competition that has long struggled for star power in the absence of Test players.
"I'm excited," Warner said of the BBL. "It's another challenge for me. I'll uphold my own standards and make sure I'm contributing to the team and getting us off to a good start and leading by example of the field with the captaincy."
With West Indies globetrotter Sherfane Rutherford and rising star Ollie Davies also on the books, Warner said he held high expectations for Thunder's batting order after a last-placed finish last summer.
"There's questions for all us to answer the last couple of years, the way that we've played," he said. "We've got some craft in the middle and hopefully at the top of the order we can fire as well."