The 37-year-old sees quality candidates for his Test replacement but worries long term about middle-order options
Warner ponders replacement as special milestone awaits
David Warner remains confident the imminent exodus of batting experience from Australia's Test line-up won't bring the same fluctuation in on-field fortunes as accompanied a similar change in personnel more than a decade ago.
Warner is the first among Australia's veteran-class to foreshadow a departure plan, announcing earlier this year he will call time on his Test career following the NRMA Insurance Series against Pakistan that concludes with the New Year's Test at the SCG.
The 37-year-old is the senior member of the current Test outfit, but fellow top-order batters Usman Khawaja (36) and Steve Smith (34) are also nearing the end of their tenures in the Baggy Green cap.
Given the similarly successful run this reigning World Test Champion team has enjoyed in recent years, Warner likened the inevitable reshuffle at the top to the golden period of 2007-09 when matchwinners Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Justin Langer, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden all retired.
That exodus of experience and talent led to difficult days for Australian cricket with Warner a beneficiary, having been plucked to partner Phillip Hughes against New Zealand in 2011 after selectors had trialled half a dozen Test opening combinations across the preceding years.
But with Test-capped aspirants Cameron Bancroft, Marcus Harris, Matthew Renshaw and Will Pucovski among those expected to be in the running when Warner's spot becomes vacant for the two-Test series against West Indies in January, the incumbent believes Australia will be well served.
"We've well and truly got great openers coming, who I think can have healthy competition with each other for the next 10 years which is fantastic," Warner said in Kolkata where he is preparing for tomorrow night's ICC World Cup semi-final against South Africa.
"Our next generation is primed and prepped, they're ready.
"When we rest, those guys are ready to take our position.
"That's why we do what we do, because we want to make sure those guys that are coming through the ranks have had the international experience, have the opportunities.
"So whether it's failing when you're not scoring runs, or someone retires, we know that when we leave you've got those people that are ready to take your place and Australian cricket's thriving."
Warner also bore first-hand witness to the upheaval of Australia's middle-order when long-serving skipper Ricky Ponting – who had delayed retirement to try and help the team through its transition period – and Michael Hussey both bowed out during the 2012-13 home summer.
The batting burden then fell to newly appointed captain Michael Clarke, but when he stepped down in the wake of Australia's 2015 Ashes defeat in the UK the team again stumbled and fell to consecutive series defeats against Sri Lanka (away) and South Africa (home).
In the years after Clarke's retirement, Australia trialled a series of middle-order options including Callum Ferguson, Nic Maddinson, Hilton Cartwright, Peter Handscomb, Kurtis Patterson, Glenn Maxwell and Moises Henriques among others, before settling on the current combination of Smith, Travis Head and Cameron Green.
Warner believes filling middle-order vacancies is becoming more difficult than finding ready replacements at the top of the order because cricket increasingly requires players who bat further down to additionally exhibit all-round skills.
"I remember when Steve (Smith) was in charge after 'Pup' (Clarke), and we were always going through that time of (changing numbers) four, five, six … we didn't have a middle order," Warner said.
"It was hard at that stage, it was really hard.
"How do you replace Michael Clarke, Ricky Ponting, Mike Hussey?
"You can't, it's very hard to bring those (middle-order) guys into this system because … in today's age, a lot of kids are growing up being allrounders.
"So the middle-order batting these days is a challenge around the world, because people want you to bowl a bit of spin or have that little bit of extra craft.
"You're always gonna have three and four, but five, six, sevens – they're the ones where it's going to be hard for next generation just to be solely a batsman.
"'Heady' (Travis Head) is probably a great example in Test cricket, perfect, but he can still bowl a little bit as well when he needs to."
Warner also cites his Test cricket evolution as integral to his rise in the ODI format, where he remains Australia's top-ranked batter on the current ICC table (seventh overall) and is his team's leading runs scorer in the ongoing World Cup with 499 from nine innings.
He concedes the 50-over game is the only format from which he was dropped from the Australia team for a prolonged period (in 2013-14) and it was by applying the same batting methods he took into Test matches that he won back his place and went on to become an all-time ODI great.
"I didn't know how to play one-day cricket," he conceded. "I just thought one-day cricket was go out there in the first 15 (overs) and smack the ball, pretty much what we're doing now in the first 10 because we're trying to front-end the game.
"That's how I was encouraged to bat, but then I worked out … the grounds in Australia are so big, you don't set out to try and hit 80-metre sixes and try and clear the fence.
"You've got gaps, and it's a running-based game in Australia.
"So I had to basically learn the craft of playing one-day cricket and build an innings, and that's exactly how Test match cricket did it and it helped my one-day game."
While Warner has flagged the finishing point for his 12-year Test tenure, he remains undecided on how much longer he'll continue to be available for Australia in white-ball cricket.
He has noted next year's ICC Champions Trophy ODI tournament in Pakistan as a possible enticement to continue in the 50-over format, and has long indicated the 2024 T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and USA as an ambition he hopes to reach.
With 99 T20 international appearances to his name, there is also the not insubstantial matter of him joining an exclusive cohort of players to have reached 100 games in all three formats with New Zealand's Ross Taylor and India's Virat Kohli currently the only members of that club.
Warner's long-time Australia and New South Wales teammate Mitchell Starc revealed that looming milestone is known within the national men's team dressing room where the dynamic opener's contribution and value is also acutely understood.
"I think a lot of stuff goes under the radar, whether it's people being a victim of their own success but Davey's numbers are phenomenal across all formats," Starc said this week.
"People are quick to remember the slumps or the patches of not-so-good form, not just Davey, but a lot of players.
"Whether it takes retirements to see that, I don't know, whether it takes dips in the next players (who replace them), I don't know but I don't think it's lost among the current group.
"At times we're not great at recognising milestones but at times we are and Davey is one T20 International from being the first Australian to play a hundred (games) in every format.
"There's going to be a lot of retirements around the world after this World Cup.
"Davey's made it known he's towards the back end, and he'll certainly leave a very big gap in all three formats."
Australia's 2023 ODI World Cup fixtures
October 8: Lost to India by six wickets
October 12: Lost to South Africa by 134 runs
October 16: Beat Sri Lanka by five wickets
October 20: Beat Pakistan by 62 runs
October 25: Beat Netherlands by 309 runs
October 28: Beat New Zealand by five runs
November 4: Beat England by 33 runs
November 7: Beat Afghanistan by three wickets
November 11: Beat Bangladesh by eight wickets
November 16: Second semi-final v South Africa, Kolkata, 7.30pm AEDT
November 19: Final, Ahmedabad (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa
2023 World Cup standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
IND
|
9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.57 | 0 | 18 |
|
2
SA
|
9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.261 | 0 | 14 |
|
3
AUS
|
9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.841 | 0 | 14 |
|
4
NZ
|
9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.743 | 0 | 10 |
|
5
PAK
|
9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.199 | 0 | 8 |
|
6
AFG
|
9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.336 | 0 | 8 |
|
7
ENG
|
9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -0.572 | 0 | 6 |
|
8
BAN
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.087 | 0 | 4 |
|
9
SL
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.419 | 0 | 4 |
|
10
NED
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.825 | 0 | 4 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points