Warner quashes Oval retirement rumour, eyes Ashes victory
David Warner has shut down rumours that he will retire from Test cricket after the fifth and final Test at The Oval as he prepares to face England for the final time.
Speculation was fuelled in Australia when Michael Vaughan told Fox Cricket that he had heard "whispers" during the Old Trafford Test that the final Ashes encounter would be Warner's last, rather than him going through to the Pakistan series and a Sydney farewell in early January that he had set out at the beginning of this tour.
"No, not at all," Warner said at The Oval when asked if he had considered making it his final Test. "I haven't seen anything…I don't have an announcement. For me it's about trying to work hard in the nets as I did today and if selected, go out there and play and try and win an Ashes series."
"I came here last time and it was a draw. Hopefully, we can go away with a series win and then that'll be a fitting Ashes campaign for us and a fitting tour over here in England with the World Test Championship as well."
In the same comments, Vaughan also raised the possible retirement of Steven Smith but, that too, was laughed off. "Obviously it's a joke," Warner said. "I won't take that too seriously." When asked in recent months, 34-year-old Smith has dead-batted talk of when he may close out his international career.
Warner's Test retirement plan is still a finish at his home ground of the SCG in early January, although there does remain the question of whether the selectors could decide to start afresh at the beginning of the home summer.
Warner has scored 201 runs at 25.12 in the four Ashes Tests - having scored 43 and 1 in the World Test Championship [WTC] final against India - which has been an improvement on the horrors of the 2019 tour when he averaged 9.50. However, this means his overall Test return since the beginning of 2021 is 28.26 and that includes the double century against South Africa.
After failing twice against Stuart Broad at Headingley - to revive memories of the last Ashes in England - he made a pair of starts at Old Trafford before falling to Chris Woakes on both occasions. Warner has been frustrated not to convert into something more substantial but believes he has played his part in helping Australia retain the Ashes at 2-1 up heading to the last match, sharing three half-century stands with Usman Khawaja in the two victories.
"I've probably left a few out there, but in saying that I've played a lot better than what I did last time," he said. "I'm looking to score. I've had a couple of unlucky dismissals and then been dismissed where I've tried to negate the swing or the seam and it's caught the outside edge of the bat.
"So for me, I feel like I'm in a good space, contributed well, and as a batting unit, we're all about partnerships. And I think the partnerships that we've had in key moments of this series so far have actually worked very well for us as a team."
With one Test to go in England, Warner's average in the country (including the final against India) stands at 25.60 from 18 matches and he has never made a hundred. His overall average away from home is 32.31 compared with 58.39 in Australia.
Warner came into this series promising a more attacking mindset than in 2019, when he felt that a lot of his problems came from looking to defend against the moving ball. Although he has only managed one half-century this time, he has been happy with his method.
"Look at the dismissal against Woakes in the first innings last Test. That one seams," he said. "If it doesn't seam, it hits the middle of the bat and that's what happens in this game. I would have been disappointed if I went forward to that and just tried to defend it. So that's how I've wanted to play. I do feel like I'm playing pretty decently."