Year-ender: Prominent international records of retired star David Warner
The year 2024 saw the retirement of several prominent cricketers. Veteran opener David Warner was among them. The 2024 ICC T20 World Cup turned out to be his latest assignment in Australian colors across formats. Warner, who is among Australia's most successful batters, enjoyed a stellar international career. As 2024 approaches an end, here we look at Warner's sensational records in international cricket.
Warner's impressive career statistics
Warner's international cricket career lasted from 2009 to 2024, during which he played for Australia in 112 Tests, 161 ODIs, and 110 T20Is. The left-handed batter scored a whopping 8,786 runs in Tests, 6,932 runs in ODIs, and another 3,277 runs in T20Is. Aaron Finch, Shane Watson, and Glenn Maxwell are the only other Australians with centuries in all three formats (men's cricket).
Warner's unique achievement and century record
Warner is one of only four players to have played 100 matches in all three formats. The other three include New Zealand's Ross Taylor, India's Virat Kohli, and NZ's Tim Southee. With 49 international tons (26 in Tests) to his name, Warner had the second-most centuries among active players in international cricket at the time of his retirement. He was only behind Kohli (80 hundreds).
Warner's Player of the Series awards and Test record
Across his 15-year career, Warner featured in 126 series across formats and was Player of the Series 13 times. This includes five times in Tests, three times in ODIs, and five times in T20Is. He scored an unbeaten 335 against Sri Lanka in 2019, the second-highest individual score by an Australian in Test cricket. Only Matthew Hayden has scored more runs (380 vs Zimbabwe) in a single Test innings among Australians.
Warner's World Cup records and ODI achievements
In 2023, Warner became only the second batter after Sachin Tendulkar to score 500+ runs in multiple ICC Cricket World Cup editions. Rohit Sharma later joined this list. He scored a record 647 runs in 2019 and finished with 535 runs in 2023. In the ODI format, Warner has a few unique records to his name. He hit seven ODI tons in 2016, equaling India's Rohit and Sourav Ganguly for the joint second-most in a calendar year.
Warner won four ICC trophies with Australia
Warner's career is decorated with many ICC trophies across formats. He was part of the Australian team that won the 50-over World Cup in 2015 and 2023. The southpaw received the Player-of-the-Tournament award following Australia's 2021 T20 WC triumph. He also won the 2023 ICC World Test Championship with the Aussie team. Warner was also a part of Australia's winning squad in the 2013-14, 2017-18 and 2021-22 Ashes at home.
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As per ESPNcricinfo, 18,744 of Warner's 18,995 runs came while batting at the top across 374 innings at 42.89. Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya (19,298) and WI's Chris Gayle (18,867) are the only other players to accumulate 17,000-plus runs while opening the innings. Meanwhile, only Ricky Ponting (27,368) owns more international runs in Australian colors.
The dark chapter in Warner's career
Warner was one of three victims of the infamous ball-tampering saga in South Africa in 2018, the other two being Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft. The southpaw, who was allegedly the mastermind behind the scandal, was handed a one-year suspension from playing cricket in Australia besides receiving a lifetime leadership ban. He was the vice-captain of the team at that time. The 2019 ODI WC marked his comeback, which turned out to be a successful one.
