Departing Warner confirms his ODI retirement

David Warner has confirmed he is retiring from ODI cricket as well as Tests, with the veteran opener soon to embark on the final chapter of his career as a T20 freelancer.

His announcement came as he issued a warning about the increasing temptation for young cricketers to prioritise those leagues over Test cricket.

Ahead of his swansong Test at his hometown SCG, Warner revealed that Australia's upset World Cup final victory over India in November marked his final match in the 50-over format.

The 37-year-old calls time on his one-day career as a two-time world champion, most recently finishing the 2023 World Cup as Australia's leading run scorer. He bows out with 6,932 ODI runs at 45.30, with 22 centuries. Among Australians, only Ricky Ponting has more scored more ODI tons.

He will continue to be available for Australia in T20 cricket and is hopeful of featuring in their World Cup campaign in that format in June in the Caribbean and USA.

Following the NRMA Insurance Test series finale against Pakistan in Sydney this week, Warner will turn out for at least four games for the Sydney Thunder but could miss the KFC BBL finals to instead play for his ILT20 side, Dubai Capitals, later in the month.

He is seeking an NOC (No Objection Certificate) from Cricket Australia to play in that league, with the Dubai team's first game to be played on January 21.

Either way, he will not play in Australia's three-match ODI series against West Indies beginning early next month, while he may also sit out the ensuing T20I series to play in the Middle East T20 league that is bankrolled by IPL team owners.

"I'm definitely retiring from one-day cricket as well," Warner told reporters at an emotional press conference on Monday.

"That was something that I had said through the World Cup, get through that, and winning it in India, I think that's a massive achievement.

"So I'll make that decision today, to retire from those forms, which does allow me to go and play some other leagues around the world and sort of get the one-day team moving forward a little bit."

The 2023 World Cup had been tipped to be the final tournament for a host of top players around the world given the increasing lure of domestic T20 leagues.

While Warner is the first of the World Cup-winning Australian team to announce he will stop playing ODIs, he hinted that more could follow.

"It might not just be me (retiring), but no-one (else has) said anything, so I think it just is me," he said. "But it was a decision that I was very comfortable with."

Warner added that if he is "playing decent cricket in two years' time and they need someone", he would consider making himself available for Australia's tilt at the Champions Trophy, scheduled to be held in Pakistan in 2025, but that appears unlikely.

While the left-hander's returns in Test cricket diminished over the past three years, there has been no similar drop-off in white-ball cricket.

He holds an IPL contract with the Delhi Capitals and now stands to be one of the most in-demand cricketers on the domestic T20 circuit.

While there is a cloud over whether Warner will leave the BBL for the ILT20 if the Thunder make the BBL finals (they currently sit sixth with only one win from six games), he did express a desire to play in next summer's edition of the competition.

Warner would have to balance playing with commentary commitments for Fox Cricket, but he suggested that the 2025 ILT20 would not overlap with BBL|14.

"I definitely am keen to pursue playing Big Bash next year. There's going to be conversations behind the scenes to allow me to do that," he said.

"Obviously I've joined the Fox commentary team next year during the Test series against India, which I'm looking forward to. There's a BBL window that we're able to play, and then quite clearly there has been a lot of talk about the ILT20 which will be starting, I'm pretty sure, after the BBL.

"So I would like to play (the BBL) in and around the commentary stuff.

"I've just got to make sure that I'm, one, playing to the best of my ability and, two, not hindering the team's performances or upsetting the balance of the team."

Warner graduated to Test cricket after grabbing national attention in the shortest format when it was just coming into public consciousness, but suggested future generations could be drawn away from red-ball cricket given the financial appeal of T20 cricket.

"Fortunately in my development, I didn't have that (T20 leagues) there so I didn't have to make that decision of going out and playing in those," said Warner.

"For me, it was always about playing Test cricket for Australia. We're well remunerated as well with the central contracts, and that's the passion that you have growing up, to play red-ball cricket for Australia.

"Today with so many different opportunities and a lot of money at stake for younger guys coming through, it's a tough decision to make.

"I'm just fortunate enough that I (didn't) have to make that decision coming through.

"It'd be wrong of me to say that (in that position) I would still be passionate to keep playing for Australia and have those ambitions because that's every kid in Australia's (dream) – it would be a very difficult decision to make if you're getting $100,000 thrown at you before you take a rookie contract."

NRMA Insurance Test series v Pakistan

First Test: Australia won by 360 runs

Second Test: Australia won by 79 runs

Third Test: January 3-7, SCG (10.30am AEDT)

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Steve Smith, Mitch Starc, David Warner

Pakistan squad: Shan Masood (c), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi