AUS vs PAK: "David Warner Is Our Greatest All Three-Format Player.."- Andrew McDonald
Published - 30 Dec 2023, 11:44 AM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 08:03 AM
Australia head coach Andrew McDonald has hailed David Warner as Australia’s greatest-ever three-format player. The veteran opener is gearing up to play his last Test for Australia next week.
He is poised to conclude his illustrious Test career after participating in the final Test of the ongoing series against Pakistan. The third Test is scheduled to take place in front of his home fans at the Sydney Cricket Ground. David Warner began his final Test series in style by playing a sublime knock of 164 runs in the first innings of the first Test.
In the next three innings, his scores were 0, 38 and 6. The southpaw will be looking to bounce back one more time in Tests and bow out on a high. He will retire from Tests as one of Australia’s greatest openers. No opener from Australia has scored more runs than him in red-ball cricket. In the overall list, he is in the fifth position.
In terms of all three formats, no Australian opener has scored more runs than David Warner in international cricket. The legendary Ricky Ponting is the only Australian with more international runs than his former teammate. David Warner has scored 8695 runs in Tests with the help of 26 centuries and 36 half-centuries. In International cricket, he has scored 18,521 runs with the help of 49 centuries and 93 half-centuries.
Andrew McDonald heaps praise on David Warner:
With David Warner set to bring down the curtains on his Test career, Andrew McDonald has labeled him as Australia’s greatest three-format player.
“He’s going to be hard to replace, someone who strikes at 70 and averaging 45, (and) most ever runs as an Australian opener,” McDonald said.
“He probably at the moment sits as probably our greatest of all-three-format player. He’ll be a loss. I know people have been gunning for him for a period of time, but for us internally we’ve seen the great value in what he brings to the table hence why we’ve kept picking him,” added the Australia coach.
Ahead of his final Test next week, David Warner is labelled by Andrew McDonald as Australia's greatest all-format player ? #AUSvPAK pic.twitter.com/lqw36rKjJS
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 30, 2023
Meanwhile, Australia have sealed the three-match series against Pakistan with a match remaining. The hosts won the first Test by 360 runs before beating the tourists by 79 runs in the second Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
