David Warner has announced his retirement from Test Cricket after 3rd Test against Pakistan at the Sydney Cricket Ground in the ongoing Test Series. Here is a look at the Rise, fall, and the Rise of Australia’s best all-format Opener
Presented By: Raghunath Nair
David Warner is the 6th highest run scorer in Australian ODI history with 6932 runs in just 161 ODIs.
With 22 ODI centuries, David Warner is second to only Ricky Ponting as the most prolific century-maker in Australian history. Warner has played 105 fewer innings as compared to his former captain.
He is Australia’s second-highest century-maker with 22 centuries in ODI Cricket.
Introduction
Warner’s final Test will be an opportunity for Team Australia to go for a 3-0 whitewash, a fitting farewell for the maverick opener.
Struggling with form and his place in the side under the radar, Warner came into the 3-match series under pressure but a 164 in the first test would have surely settled his nerves in the series.
David Warner is the highest scorer for Australia in Test and ODI as an opener.
Mathew Hayden is the only Australia opener to score more Test hundreds than David Warner’s 26 in Test Cricket.
The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again
David Warner came into the international circuit as a swashbuckling white ball batsman. His style of play labelled him for the shorter format and not for a conventional Australian Test opener.
Little did the world know that David Warner would end up being the most successful Test opener in Australian Test history and the fourth most prolific opener ever.
David Warner is behind just Alastair Cook, Sunil Gavaskar, and Graeme Smith for most runs as an opener.
David Warner did not play any first-class cricket and was fast-tracked to the national side due to his attacking style of play.
He brought his attacking style of play in all three formats and did not make any drastic changes in his style of play. A similarity with the great Virendra Sehwag who is the only player who has a better strike rate than Warner in Test who scored more than 8000 Test runs.
David Warner with an average of 58.63 at home was a force to any visiting team
David Warner’s Ashes record largely mirrors his overall record – good at home, mediocre away.
Warner ended up being the third most prolific opener for Australia in terms of runs in the Ashes.
David Warner Stats
| Format | Matches | Innings | Runs | High Score | Average | Strike Rate | Hundreds | Fifties |
| Test | 111 | 203 | 8695 | 335* | 44.6 | 70.3 | 26 | 36 |
| ODI | 161 | 159 | 6932 | 179 | 45.3 | 97.3 | 22 | 33 |
| T20I | 99 | 99 | 2894 | 100* | 32.9 | 141.3 | 1 | 24 |
| IPL | 176 | 176 | 6397 | 126 | 41.5 | 139.9 | 4 | 61 |
Unlike long-standing partnerships like Boon and Marsh, David Warner never had a stable partner for a long time in his career and had 13 different opening partners throughout his career.
Australia head Coach, Andrew Mc Donald, considers David Warner the greatest all-format player in Australian history and a player difficult to replace once he retires with a strike rate of 70 and an average of 45 and one who holds the record for the most runs as an Australian opener.
Australian great Greg Chappel has placed the southpaw second to only Virendra Sehwag as the most destructive opener in the modern era.
David Warner has had his share of controversy in his long career and was at the centre of some of the biggest controversies of his age. He was a player known not to take a backstep when it came to confrontation on or off the field.
Sandpaper gate
The Sandpaper Gate is probably the biggest controversy in Australian Cricket history after the infamous underarm controversy by the Chappels.
The Sandpaper Gate incident will forever be associated with David Warner and brought a big dent in Australian cricket.
The Sandpaper scandal was just plain cheating in its purest form and is the asterisk his career will never shed.
Warner was suspended for a year
Punching Joe Root
Punching Joe Root in a Birmingham bar a decade ago and the subsequent public apology came a little too late for many.
Heated Exchange with Quinton De Kock
Warner got into a heated exchange with South Africa’s Quinton De Kock and was fined 75% of his match fees for the same.
Tiff with Journalist on ‘X’
In the 2013 IPL season, he got into a rant on ‘X’ against Journalist which led to him being fined $USD 4000.
Being Benched by Sunrisers Hyderabad Team
Warner had led the Sunrisers Hyderabad to an IPL title but the following year had huge differences with the franchise leading to him being dropped from captaincy and eventually from the team.
Conclusion
David Warner announced his retirement from the one-day international cricket leading up to his final test. The Opener is keen to free up the schedule for T20 franchise opportunities.
The veteran opener felt that the timing was right to announce his retirement in the shorter format following Australia’s 2023 World Cup triumph in India. Warner was Australia’s leading run-scorer in the tournament.
Warner has however kept the window open for participation in the Champions Trophy if the team needs him. The Champions Trophy silverware is the only missing trophy in his impressive career.
Keen to be part of the various franchise cricket overseas including the United Arab Emirates ILT20 apart from being a regular in the BBL and the IPL.
Being an astute reader of the game, he also has a commentary role with FOX Sports next summer.
Due to his international commitments, he has never participated in the PSL and The Hundred.
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