David Warner has revealed he is set to step away from Test cricket, outlining his plans for retirement in a bombshell statement.
Cricket: Ollie Pope and Ben Duckett both compiled record-breaking centuries before debutant Josh Tongue took his first wickets in Test cricket as England continued to dominate their Ashes warm-up against Ireland
Speaking to media in England ahead of the World Test Championship final, Warner said while he wanted to finish his career on his home ground, he intended to continue playing limited-overs formats for Australia through to the 2024 T20 World Cup.
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“You‘ve got to score runs,” Warner said.
“I’ve always said the (2024) World Cup would probably be my final game.
“I probably owe it to myself and my family – if I can score runs here and continue to play back in Australia – I can definitely say I won‘t be playing that West Indies series.
“If I can get through this (WTC final and ensuing Ashes campaign) and make the Pakistan series I will definitely finish up then.”
Warner scored a double-century at the MCG in his 100th Test. (Photo by Daniel Pockett – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
It narrows his final game to the third Test of the three-match Pakistan series — the 2023 New Year’s Test — starting January 3 at the SCG.
Australia then play a two-match series against the West Indies from January 17 at the Adelaide Oval and January 25th at the Gabba.
If Warner can retain his position at the top of the Australian Test order, it means he has just eight Tests remaining in his glittering career.
Warner has been a stalwart of the national side since bursting onto the scene in 2009 and becoming the first man since 1877 to represent Australia without having played a first-class match.
Despite a career spanning over a decade and over 100 Test matches with 8158 runs at an average of 45.57, the 36-year-old has been under pressure to retain his spot in the Test side over the last two years, having struggled for consistent runs barring a herculean double-century against South Africa in last year’s Boxing Day Test.
Men’s national coach Andrew McDonald recently backed Warner to play a “really significant part” in the upcoming WTC final and Ashes tour.
“We’re optimistic with what Dave’s got left,” McDonald told SEN last month.
“We’ve picked him in the squad and we feel that he’s going to play a really significant part in the Ashes and the World Test Championship final, and that’s why he’s on the plane.
“We think he’s got some good games left in him.
“He’s an important part of that squad.
“If he wasn’t, then we would have had a clear checkpoint after the first Test match or the World Test Championship going into the Ashes, but that’s not the case.
“He’s clearly in our plans and he’s ready to go, and we’re in constant contact with him.”
Warner has scored 30 Test centuries in a glittering career. (Photo by William WEST / AFP)
The men’s Test side is heading into a period of transition, with a number of players contemplating retirement.
Steve Smith, Usman Khawaja and Warner have all openly discussed their plans for after cricket and variously hinted at their individual timeframes for retirement, while of the bowlers, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon are all over 32.
In January, Warner revealed that he and Usman Khawaja, who grew up playing junior cricket together in Sydney’s east, made a pact to not retire at the same time, having seen the impact that simultaneous retirements had on the golden generation of the mid-2000s.
“We’re going to enjoy the next 12 months, enjoy it as much as we can,’’ Warner told Fox Cricket at the time.
“For us it’s about not leaving this team with a big hole. I know through that five-year transition period when a lot of the greats left, they’re big holes to fill with the amount of games you play.
“We always talk about games played and how much that means into a team’s performance and perspective with experience. You can’t fill that void.”