David Warner retires from one-day cricket ahead of Test farewell

SYDNEY (Agencies): Dynamic Australian opener David Warner called time on Monday on one-day international cricket ahead of his farewell Test against Pakistan this week, but kept the door open to play the 2025 Champions Trophy if needed. The 37-year-old will pad up in his 112th and final Test in his home city Sydney on Wednesday, having plundered 8,695 runs at an average of 44.58, with 26 centuries and 36 half-centuries. At a press conference at the Sydney Cricket Ground, he also announced his retirement from ODIs, where he has been a fixture since his debut in 2009, helping the team win the World Cup in 2015 and 2023. “I’ve got to give back to the family and also on the back of that I’m definitely retiring from one-day cricket as well,” he said. “That was something that I had said through the (2023) World Cup, get through that, and winning it in India, I think that’s a massive achievement.

“So I’ll make that decision today, to retire from those forms, which does allow me to go and play some other (Twenty20) leagues around the world and sort of get the one-day team moving forward a little bit. I know there’s a Champions Trophy coming up,” he added. “If I’m playing decent cricket in two years’ time and I’m around and they need someone, I’m going to be available,” Warner said. The Champions Trophy has not been played since 2017, but is set to be resurrected in 2025 in Pakistan. Traditionally 50-over cricket, reports have said there is a push underway to make it T20. Warner leaves ODIs after 161 matches, smashing 6,932 runs at an average of 45.30, with 22 centuries. Among Australians, only Ricky Ponting with 30 has scored more one-day tons. He will continue to be available in the T20 format, with the 2024 World Cup in the Caribbean and United States a target. Warner’s decision to depart one-dayers means Australia will need a new opener for their three-match series against the West Indies in February, which follows a two-Test series in Adelaide and Brisbane.

Vital role: Ahead of his ODI announcement, Cricket Australia chief Nick Hockley paid tribute to Warner’s “amazing Test career”. “We are all extremely grateful for his immense contribution to this form of the game,” he said in a statement. “David’s wonderful attacking style not only played a vital role in many Australian victories, it also enthralled and entertained fans across the world and drew many to Test cricket.” A larger-than-life character, Warner was described by Australia coach Andrew McDonald over the weekend as “probably our greatest ever three-format player”. But he will forever be remembered for the role he played in the notorious ball-tampering scandal of 2018 in South Africa. Along with skipper Steve Smith, he was banned for a year for his part in the third Test debacle in Cape Town that saw Cameron Bancroft use sandpaper to scuff the ball before a crude attempt to conceal the evidence down his trousers. Reflecting on his Test career, Warner said it was a “fairytale ending” to hang up his gloves in Sydney. “I would have never imagined opening the batting for New South Wales or anyone to be honest when I first started but to be here, 112 Tests I think, I still pinch myself,” he said. He added that he would like to be remembered as someone “authentic and honest” who has “gone out there and given it his all”.