Ricky Ponting believes David Warner missed ‘best time to retire’

Warner’s Test profession is hanging by a thread after he was pressured to return residence from India after fracturing his elbow within the second Test.

The veteran opener was enduring a nightmare tour, registering scores of 1, 10 and 15 earlier than getting concussed and injured.

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Warner has scored 25 centuries from 103 Tests at a median of 45.57, however his kind has dipped in recent times and the 36-year-old has solely scored one century since December 2020.

That droughtbreaking knock was his double century towards South Africa on the Boxing Day Test final summer season.

Ponting believes if Warner was contemplating retiring, the next Test on the SCG would have been the right time to bow out.

“I thought the absolute best time for Davey to retire, if he was thinking about it at all, was after the Sydney Test match here in Australia,” Ponting advised the ICC Review podcast.

“He’d just played his 100th Test in Melbourne, and obviously got 200 in the first innings down there. And to bow out in front of his home crowd is obviously the way that every player would like to finish their careers.

“Who knows now that opportunity might not come around again for Davey, you know. That’s nearly another 12 months away.

“I’d love it if he could do that. I think it’d be fitting if he could do that, finish in front of his home crowd. But he’s going to have to play really well between now and then for that to happen.”

By wining the third Test over India, Australia booked their spot in June’s World Test Championship Final at The Oval.

Ponting believes Warner will get one other crack on the prime of order then and if all goes properly, he’ll line as much as face the likes of Stuart Broad and James Anderson on this 12 months’s Ashes in England.

“I don’t think it’s the end of David Warner,” Ponting stated.

“I think they’ll definitely want to play him in the World Test Championship match.

“I think they’ll bring him back for that one game and if he does well there he’ll probably start the Ashes and see where we go from there.

“They have got some really big decisions to make, leading into the Ashes as well. A bit like some of the selection issues they had coming to India.

“They’re probably going to have similar things to think about when they get to the UK because David’s record in the UK is not as strong as it is in some other places around the world.”

Ponting stated Warner deserves to retire on his personal phrases, each time that could be.

“I think his career deserves to finish the way he wants it to,” the previous captain stated.

“Sort of not to be dropped or tapped on the shoulder in the middle of an overseas tour and have his career end in that way. That’s why I just hope he can find it within himself to score a lot of runs between now and next summer.”

Travis Head has performed properly each as an opener and the center order in India, nevertheless it’s unclear if he can be Warner’s long run successor.

“We’ll see where that lands in terms of the future but I see him (Head) as an incredible middle order player as well,” Australian coach Andrew McDonald stated.

“He can shift the momentum of the game in the middle order and I don’t think we want to take that away from this team. I think he can get on the back of others’ work at the top of the order in different conditions.”

Originally printed as Ricky Ponting believes David Warner missed ‘best time to retire’