Australia opener David Warner has announced his intention to retire from Test cricket during the forthcoming Australian summer, putting an end to his long and successful Test career.Warner is presently in England preparing for next week’s ICC World Test Championship with India and is expected to play in the upcoming five-match Ashes series against England.
Warner has several goals, including the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in India at the end of the year, but the 36-year-old has said he plans to call it quits after Australia’s Test against Pakistan in January at his home stadium in Sydney.
Warner revealed the news to reporters prior to Australia’s Saturday training session in Beckenham, with the left-hander indicating he wishes to end his Test career after the Pakistan series and before the two-match home series against the West Indies.
On Saturday, Warner said. “You’ve got to score runs. I’ve always said the (2024) T20 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.”
“I will just keep working as hard as I can to get there and start this Test match against India.”
Warner plans to end his Test career early in 2024, but he wants to continue playing white-ball cricket for Australia until the 2019 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the United States.
“It is something at the backend of my mind. but we have got a lot of cricket before that and then I think it stops from February.”
“I want to play that 2024 T20 World Cup,” Warner said.
“There is a lot of cricket to be played and who knows, I might even go back and play Shield cricket (domestic cricket in Australia) for New South Wales.”
“For me then I get to play IPL and some of the other franchise leagues and then get into that rhythm to play (2024 T20 World Cup) which I think is in June.”
However, Warner’s focus is on the World Test Championship Final against India, and the dynamic opener believes he has been in fantastic form in the nets since arriving in England.
Usman Khawaja, Warner’s partner at the top of the order, has been keeping a close watch on Warner and expects him to score many runs at The Oval.
“I have seen him bat in the last couple of days and, I don’t want to jinx him, but he is looking good,” Khawaja said.
“You never write off a great player, so I am expecting runs.”
“That doesn’t always correlate to runs, but if we’re any chance of Davey Warner scoring runs this could be it.”
“This is probably the best I have seen him look in the nets for a while.”
