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George Bailey, Australia’s Chief Selector opened up on David Warner’s return to cricket after the latter kept the doors opened for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy. Notably, the Champions Trophy will serve as the next major ICC tournament after the conclusion of the T20 World Cup 2024. The tournament will however mark its return after a gap of eight years, and is set to be played in Pakistan in February-March 2025.
As the eight-team tournament comes closer, Australia have officially closed doors for Warner after he announced his ODI retirement at the start of the year on January 1, 2024. Speaking during the squad announcement for the upcoming England and Wales and Scotland tour, Bailey said that they concern Warner “fully retired”.
"Our understanding is that David is retired, and [he] should be commended on what has been an incredible career across all three formats," Bailey said. "Certainly, our planning is that he won't be there in Pakistan,” he further added confirming that Warner will not come of retirement from Champions Trophy.
"You never know when Bull's joking…think he's just stirring the pot a bit. He's had a wonderful career, can't celebrate it enough, and think as time goes by, his legacy of what he has done for Australia, and we reflect back on that, the legend of a player is only going to continue to grow. But as far as this team goes and the journey to transition to some different players, in his case across all three formats, it's going to be exciting," he continued.
Wadey might not come back: Bailey hints at Matthew Wade’s possible retirement
The Australia Chief Selector, George Bailey further reiterated that apart from Warner, they haven’t put a line besides anyway. Only if there aren’t many opportunities available, Matthew Wade might not return. "I don't think there's anyone who's not there that we've put a line through permanently besides David," Bailey said.
"This is the way we are going with this squad. If opportunities arise or there are gaps at different points there's nothing to say that Wadey might not come back, but certainly, at this point, we are excited about giving Josh [Inglis] a run,” he further continued.
"The next T20 World Cup is 2026, so I imagine there may be some more changes than what we are seeing in this squad but specifically to those guys [Starc and Maxwell], no we haven't had any conversations about where they think their T20 journey may finish,” he concluded.
