David Warner

David Warner officially announced his retirement from ODI amid his Farewell Test Match.

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David Warner, former vice-captain of Australian Men’s Cricket Team has announced his retirement from one-day international cricket just before the finals of the ongoing Test match between Australia and Pakistan. He was the leading run-scorer from the Australian side in the latest ODI World Cup that took place in India. The veteran opener said the time was right to conclude his ODI career.

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David Warner in a press meet:

In the press meet Warner said “It was a decision that I was very, very comfortable with,” the 37-year-old said. “To win in India, from where we were, was amazing.

“When we lost two games in a row in India, the bond just got stronger with each other and it’s not by fluke or by chance that we were able to get to where we were. So I’ll make that decision today, to retire from those forms (ODIs).” The former added

Warner being the sixth-highest run-scorer in Australian ODI history, achieved 6932 runs in just 161 matches. He knocked 22 centuries, the second-most by any Australian ODI player, behind Ricky Ponting, who made 29 centuries in 226 innings.

Warner said that if required by the team & management, he might come back for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan. In 2009, Australia won the title where the former was not included in the playing XI.

He further added, “If I’m playing decent cricket in two years and I’m around and they need someone, I’m going to be available,”. Australia will defend their ODI World Cup title in South Africa in 2027.

David Warner’s decision:

David Warner’s decision to quit ODIs would create more opportunities for him to play franchise cricket overseas, including in the United Arab Emirates-based ILT20. Warner wishes to remain in the BBL after his contract with the Sydney Thunder expires at the end of this summer.

Statements:

The veteran opener David Warner said, “I am keen to pursue playing Big Bash next year,”. “There has been a lot of talk about the ILT20 which will be starting, I’m pretty sure, after the BBL. So I would like to play that in and around the commentary stuff.”

Image credit: Getty Images

Warner has been playing the IPL since 2009 but he never featured himself in the Pakistan Super League or England’s The Hundred playing only one season in the Caribbean Premier League and Bangladesh Premier League before the Covid-19 pandemic.

On Wednesday, Warner will be playing his final Test match at his home ground, where Australia can whitewash Pakistan if they register another win leading the series from 2-0 to 3-0. Before the World Test Championship final and Ashes, Warner marked his intention to break off his career after the Sydney Test.

“I said my ideal preparation to finish would be Sydney,” Warner recalled. “But I had Lord’s penciled in as my last Test, especially if I didn’t go as well as I did as a partnership with Uzzie at the top of the order.”

“If you’re down 2-0, and you go into that third one, and you lose that, I don’t think it’s the right choice to make (to keep playing). If I was failing and we hadn’t won, then it would have been an easier decision. I didn’t want to put the team or the selectors in a position where they had to think about, ‘Mate, it’s time to push on’. It was more about me just going, ‘I’m content with that. I’m happy with it, I’ve had a great career.” Warner said.

Adding “When I looked at Lord’s as a potential finish, I didn’t have many emotions because I was content,” he said. “But it’s been emotional since Perth since I’ve been back in Australia and knowing that I’m playing (my final Test).

The player states, “Getting that 160, putting us into a great position for the team, it hit home when people in the streets were coming up and saying, ‘Well done, we support you, we back you’. It means a lot.”

Source credit: The Guardian.

Thumbnail credit: Cricket Times.

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