David Warner has been backed to emerge from the shadows created by Brendon McCullum's dazzling form and show he, not the New Zealand captain, is the pivotal batsman of the World Cup final.

One-dayers remain the one format where Warner is yet to replicate the success in Twenty20 and Tests that has elevated him to one of the world's premier batsmen. Except for his 178 against Afghanistan, the left-hander has scored 122 runs an at average of 24.4 in the tournament.

The innings in which Warner looked at his most destructive in the World Cup was his shortest. Coming in at number five against Scotland, and when his team needed a quick victory to beat the threat of more rain, he crunched a six from his first ball on the way to an unbeaten 21 from six deliveries.

Australia has reached the final despite their openers, Warner and Aaron Finch, averaging only 25 for the first wicket with their first-choice pairing. Their best was 57 against England and they have not passed 30 since.

By contrast, the Black Caps, fuelled by McCullum's hitting and the underrated support role played by Martin Guptill, have scored 452 runs at an average of 56.5.

Over Warner's 61 one-day matches, he has scored 2002 runs at an average of 34.52, hardly terrible numbers, but still not befitting the 28-year-old's talent and form in the other two formats.

"It's surprising in the sense he's just made for white-ball cricket," said Warner's personal batting coach Trent Woodhill, who cited the lack of a regular partner until Finch as a factor for that. "By the end of his career, he'll average 40 with a strike-rate of 90. He'll just own it."

Woodhill, who also spent two years as assistant coach of the Black Caps straddling the 2011 World Cup, reckoned Warner had been subdued for much of the tournament because the struggles of Finch had made him unsure of "how hard to go". But with Finch getting back among the runs on Thursday, the left-handed Warner was backed to overshadow McCullum, another batsman who regularly launched assaults against opening bowlers.

"Obviously I'm biased but, for Australia to win tomorrow, Warner has to be man of the match," Woodhill said. "For New Zealand to win tomorrow, McCullum has to be man of the match. As much as [Trent] Boult and [Mitch] Starc have been the stars of the show, I'm watching the game tomorrow expecting David to dominate because, to me, he's still the best batsman out of those two teams.

"David is such a big-game player. I can't bet on cricket but, if I could, I'd be backing David to score a lot of runs. He'll bustle the Kiwis and get in front of the game. That's exactly what McCullum does."

Woodhill said it was understandable for McCullum to gain more attention because, while he was the type of batsman who could, and did, "run at the bowler and big crash and wallop", Warner would instead "flick one for four, he'll run one down to third man, he'll cut one wide of third man for four, he'll play a big pull shot".

"He's the ultimate batsman and he's in his prime," Woodhill said. "Steve Smith has had a golden summer but the guy doing it all at the top of the order to allow him to do that is David Warner.

"I've no doubt David Warner will be one of the pivotal players in tomorrow's game. He'll go hard and the Kiwis will go hard back at him.

"David is a smart cricketer and he reads situations so well. If he stays in the moment, look out. He could do something absolutely extraordinary."

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