David Warner announces retirement date of Test career

Australian star opener David Warner on Saturday declared his plans to take retirement from Test cricket. Warner, who is currently preparing for the upcoming World Test Championship (WTC) final against India has also spoken about his plans of ending the T20 cricket as well.

"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," Warner said.

Warner hopes the Sydney Test against Pakistan would be his last. He revealed his desire to end his red-ball career with a swansong Test at his home ground at the SCG against Pakistan in January.

"If I can get through this (WTC final and ensuing Ashes campaign) and make the Pakistan series I will definitely finish up then," he said.

At the end of the year,  Australia will face Pakistan in a three-Test series with the final game slated to be played in Sydney on January 3, post which they host the West Indies for a full



series.

Talking about his T20 career, Warner said, "You've got to score runs. I've always said the (2024) T20 World Cup would probably be my final game."

After the WTC final, Australia are scheduled to play a five-match Ashes series against England. Warner is a part of Australia's squad for the WTC final as well as the first two Ashes Tests. 

Regardless of Warner's recent struggles, Australia head coach Andrew McDonald is confident of him delivering at the top of the order.

"We're optimistic with what Dave's got left, we've picked him in the squad and we feel he'll play a really big part in the Ashes and the World Test Championship (final)," McDonald told Australian radio station SEN.

David Warner has played 103 Test matches in his career and has scored 8158 runs with the highest score of 335. He has registered 34 half-centuries and 25 tons so far. When it comes to his T20I career, Warner has played 99 matches and has scored 2894 runs including a century and 24 fifties.