Veteran opener set to become just the third player to play 100 matches for his country in all three formats
David Warner is set to become the first Australian to play 100 internationals in all formats when Australia take on the West Indies in a three-match series that will mark the end of the men’s home international summer.
Warner, who retired from Test and ODI cricket in recent weeks, is set to add to his 99 T20 international caps with Australia coach Andrew McDonald revealing he would be included in the team to face the Windies before another three-game series across the Tasman against New Zealand.
Warner, who played two games for the Sydney Thunder following his Test retirement, is currently in the UAE playing for the Dubai Capitals in the lucrative ILT20 league.
He is due back on February 7 ahead of the February 9 first Dettol T20 in Hobart.
Warner will become just the third player to reach the milestone of 100 games for his country in each of the three formats, joining New Zealand’s Ross Taylor and India’s Virat Kohli.
Australia will name their T20 squad to face the Windies early in the week, with McDonald suggesting a ‘nuanced’ approach was likely to impact the availability of frontline fast bowlers Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.
That trio have all been rested from the Dettol ODI series that follows the Test matches, and could also miss the T20 fixtures, although a full-strength squad is expected to face the Black Caps in the build-up to June’s T20 World Cup in the USA and Caribbean.
Warner’s milestone comes as Australia’s coach called for the game’s administrators to develop a more balanced approach to scheduling amid the “creep” of global Twenty20 leagues.
Australia thumped the West Indies in the first Test in Adelaide with the tourists weakened by the non-selection of a senior core including ex-captain Jason Holder.
Holder and others opted to play in T20 leagues rather than tour Australia.
“The creep is happening, there’s a lot of (T20) leagues around the world,” McDonald said.
“We like to think our Test players are interested in playing Test cricket because they like playing for their country.
“And I think that’s first and foremost: if you like playing for your country, then you are going to put your hand up to play.
“And we’ve got some white-ball players that are in that boat where they’ve got some choices to make but at the moment they’re choosing to play for Australia.
“For us, it’s as simple as keeping our environment one that people want to be a part of.
“And if you can do that, I think you maintain the core of your players – potentially if it’s not a great environment the experience is not great playing for your country, then you may choose alternative options.
“But the scheduling is going to be tougher and tougher going forward.
“So there needs to be some thought given to it, how it’s all balanced and how it all works together.
“I know the problem but I don’t know the answer.”
