David Warner’s Retirement: Will he be regarded as one of Australia’s greats?

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A stylish, runs-hungry and match-winner left-handed opener from Australia announced his retirement from international cricket on January 01, 2024. The news of David Warner’s Retirement spread across the globe. Warner made his international debut in 2009 in T20I against South Africa, where he quickly impressed everyone on debut with a brutal match-winning 89. He made his ODI debut against the same opposition a week later while he had to wait for his Test debut, which came in 2011.

He scored 8786 Test runs, 6932 ODI runs and 3277 T20I runs with a total of 18,955 international runs under his belt. This put Warner on second in most runs for Australia in international cricket. A remarkable achievement considering he overtook Steve Waugh and Allan Border, but just 8373 runs behind the great Ricky Ponting.

Overall, that put David in 16th place for most runs in international cricket and would have been the 16th player to score 19000 runs had he scored those remaining five. On top of that, he has been a part of four winning squads of Australian in ICC Events; The ODI World Cups in 2015 and 2023, the T20 World Cup in 2021 (where he was the Player of the Tournament as well) and the 2023 World Test Championship.

We’ll review a few of his major achievements and how phenomenal he has been for the Australian side.

Also Read: From Debut to Legacy: Celebrating David Warner’s Retirement After Impactful Career

David Warner’s Retirement: The Run Machine Warner

David Warner has always been a threat to the opposition. His aggressive batting always gives his side a good start. As much as he was phenomenal in white-ball cricket, his red-ball record is really good for someone who made his T20 debut before playing any First-Class cricket.

Format	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike Rate	100s	50s	Best
Test	205	8786	44.59	70.19	26	37	335*
ODI	159	6932	45.30	97.26	22	33	179
T20I	110	3277	33.43	142.47	1	28	100*
Total	474	18995	42.39	86.56	49	98	335*

David is the fifth-highest run-scorer in Test cricket, the sixth-highest run-scorer in ODIs and the leading run-scorer in T20Is for Australia.

For players who have scored at least 5000 runs in Test cricket for Australia, Warner’s strike rate of 70.19 is the second best after Adam Gilchrist (81.95).

We break down his record by format;

Test Record:

Test	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike Rate	100s	50s	Best
Winning Cause	112	5489	51.78	70.73	18	20	335*
Losing Cause	61	2017	33.61	68.18	3	15	133
Total	205	8786	44.59	70.19	26	37	335*

ODI Record:

ODI	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike Rate	100s	50s	Best
Winning Cause	93	4744	53.9	102.95	17	21	179
Losing Cause	62	2033	32.79	88.77	5	11	173
Tied	1	37	37.00	72.54	0	0	37
No Result	3	118	59.00	88.72	0	1	60
Total	159	6932	45.30	97.26	22	33	179

T20I Record:

T20I	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike Rate	100s	50s	Best
Winning Cause	66	2237	39.24	153.85	1	19	100*
Losing Cause	40	954	25.10	121.21	0	9	90*
Tied	2	51	25.50	175.86	0	0	31
No Result	2	35	35.00	116.66	0	0	33
Total	110	3277	33.43	142.47	1	28	100*

Warner’s win percentage of 62.47 in Tests, 68.44 in ODIs and 68.26 in T20Is shows that he was one of the keys for Australia in winning games.

One factor that a player is determined to be the best is when one looks at the Player’s Home and Away stats. Here we break it down;

Test Home vs Away
	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike Rate	100s	50s	Best
Home	101	5438	57.85	72.77	20	15	335*
Away	98	3065	31.59	65.58	5	21	145
Neutral	6	283	47.16	76.07	1	1	133
Total	205	8786	44.59	70.19	26	37	335*
ODI Home vs Away
	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike Rate	100s	50s	Best
Home	65	3013	47.07	99.8	10	13	179
Away	65	2429	39.17	96.42	6	15	173
Neutral	29	1490	55.18	93.76	6	3	166
Total	159	6932	45.30	97.26	22	33	179
T20I Home vs Away
	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike Rate	100s	50s	Best
Home	34	1150	41.07	150.52	1	9	100*
Away	36	1059	31.14	141.38	0	9	77
Neutral	40	1068	29.66	135.70	0	10	89*
Total	110	3277	33.43	142.47	1	28	100*

As normally one would find in a player, David Warner has a better home record than away.

Performances at the ICC Events

	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike Rate	100s	50s	Best
Champions Trophy	4	88	29.33	83.01	0	0	40*
ODI World Cup	29	1527	55.55	101.46	6	5	178
T20I World Cup	41	984	25.89	134.24	0	8	89*
World Test Championship	68	2423	37.27	60.92	5	8	335*

Warner has represented his national team in two Champions Trophy events, three ODI World Cup events, eight T20 World Cup events and two World Test Championship events.

His Champions Trophy record isn’t really impressive. One can forgive him for that given that Australia’s campaigns in 2013 and 2017 saw a combined three games washed out of six and Warner represented four of the six games. 

In ODI World Cups, Warner has been the 11th, 2nd and 6th highest run-scorers in the 2015, 2019 and 2023 editions. He was just a run behind Rohit Sharma in the 2019 World Cup, where he marked his international return after the sandpaper scandal.

In T20 World Cups, Warner’s most fond memory was the 2021 edition. He scored the second most number of runs in the tournament, behind Babar Azam and won the Player of the Tournament award.

Also Read: Team of T20 World Cup 2021 by Green Team

Records and Achievements

Test

• His 335* is the second-highest individual score by an Australian in Test innings
• His 335* is also the fifth-highest score in Test cricket by an opener
• He scored twin hundreds in his one-hundredth match
• He scored six Test hundreds in a calendar year, the joint third-most
• He has the fifth Player of the Series award, the third most for Australia

ODI

• 2nd the most number of centuries by Australians after Ricky Ponting
• Holds the record for the joint third most FOURs scored in an innings (24)
• 6th Fastest to both 4000 and 5000 runs in ODIs
• 3rd Fastest to 6000 ODI runs

T20I

• Highest run-scorer in T20I for Australia. Seven highest run-getters in T20Is.
• Fifth most 50+ scores in T20Is
• 6th Fastest to 3000 T20I runs
• Holds the joint record for the second most Player of the Series awards in T20Is (5)

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