Legendary Australia opener David Warner is set to call time on his illustrious Test career after the third and final Test match of the Pakistan series. Warner, who has 8695 runs in Test cricket, leaves a big hole in the Australian batting line-up.
Conversations have already begun about who become the long-term replacement for the left-hander, given there are not full-time players for that position in the Australian side. Speaking on the matter during the Channel 7 broadcast of the second Test match in Melbourne, former Australia head coach Justin Langer said that opening the innings was a specialist’s job in Test cricket.
“One thing for certain, in my opinion it must be a specialist opener,” Langer said, via Channel 7.
Langer backed three players from the domestic cricket over Cameron Green and Mitchell Marsh, who have opened for Australian in the white-ball format.
“There’s lots of discussion that maybe it’s a Mitch Marsh, maybe it’s Cameron Green to fit everyone in, but my view is that it’s got to be a specialist,” said Langer.
“We tried it with Aaron Finch, we tried it with Matthew Wade, to their credit they did it for the team, but it tells me that you need a specialist opener. There’s Cameron Bancroft, Marcus Harris and Matt Renshaw are the three obvious ones, the toughest thing for the selectors will be which one they pick,” he further added.
Warner, if selected will play his farewell Test match at his home venue at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The batter has not scored a century in his farewell series yet and would like to change that in the good batting conditions in Sydney. David Warner would be retiring from Test cricket on a high, having won the World Test Championship 2023 this year.
