BGT 2023 | David Warner should have pulled the pin on his career after Proteas series, opines Ricky Ponting

03/02/2023

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Ricky Ponting has cast doubt over David Warner's future in the Australian Test squad given his recent rut, stating the batter might have been better off retiring earlier. The opener scored a glorious double ton in the summer amidst a string of low scores and had to leave India early due to injury.

David Warner's career is well and truly into its twilight with the 35-year-old on the brink of being a chapter in the past for the Australian cricket team. The former vice-captain had himself admitted earlier he did not have much red-ball cricket left in him, albeit he later expressed a desire to keep going, with his recent form seemingly paving the path for him to hang his boots in the longest format of the game.

Since the start of 2021, he averages a mere 29.48 in Tests across 31 innings with just one century and four fifties to his name. The left-handed batter managed scores of 1, 10, and 15 in three innings against India before returning home with an injured elbow. Warner's next assignment is expected to be the World Test Championship final, unless an unprecedented string of results stops the Kangaroos from making the summit clash, to be held at the Oval beginning June 7. However, the dilemma gets stronger when considering the Ashes, beginning later in the month in England, considering Warner had averaged 9.50 the last time he toured the country in 2019 largely courtesy of a rampant Stuart Broad.

“I’ve heard him talk before about their cycle. This current cycle will finish after the World Test Championship, which is obviously the week before the first Ashes Test and I would think all going well that they want to get David through until the end of that Test match at least,” legendary Australian batter Ricky Ponting was quoted saying by Sportstar.

“It’s up to him though. The only currency you have as a batsman is running and if you’re not scoring any, you leave yourself open. It’s happened to all of us, it happened to me. When you get to a certain age and it looks like your form is dropping off slightly, then the knives are sharpened and it doesn’t take long," he added.

Warner has 103 Test caps to his name worth 8,158 runs at an average of 45.57, including 25 centuries. During an otherwise troublesome home summer, the opener temporarily abated woes with an unbeaten 200 in his 100th Test against South Africa in Melbourne while the next encounter in his home city Sydney capped off a glorious campaign for the side from Down Under.

“For him to finish the way he deserves to finish, the obvious thing for me was maybe to pull the pin after Sydney. He got 200 in Melbourne, played his 100th Test, played his 101 Test in Sydney, his home ground and maybe finish there. The last thing he deserved is to be away on a tour and get into the middle of a series and get dropped and his career is over. That would be an awful way for him to finish," Ponting opined.

“He’s a driven little man, a pretty stubborn little bugger, so we’ll see how he goes.”