AUS vs PAK: Pat Cummins urges David Warner to flex his arm ahead of farewell, says 'maybe some leg spin'
AUS vs PAK: Pat Cummins urges David Warner to flex his arm ahead of farewell, says 'maybe some leg spin'
Australia skipper Pat Cummins has urged David Warner to flex his arm in his farewell Test match as they prepare to face Pakistan in Sydney. Warner, set to call time on his illustrious career, will get a fitting farewell when he takes the field in his final career Test match in his hometown. Ahead of the match, Cumminssaid it would be great ifWarner could throw a few balls at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) as Nathan Lyon remains the only designated spin option in the Playing XI. Australia have named an unchanged Playing XI for the third Test in SCG which starts on Wednesday (Jan 3).
Warner to flex his arm?
“Maybe some leg spin? Take the last wicket of the game or something, out of the rough. I only just thought of it then,” Pat Cummins laughed in the pre-match press conference.
Not since 2016 has Warner bowled in the Test format, but has been urged by his skipper to take up the role. Notably, Warner has four wickets in the Test format adding to his 26 hundreds in the red-ball format. His list of wickets includes veteran South African batter Hashim Amla, Darren Bravo, Kirk Edwards and Fidel Edwards.
Having announced his retirement from the longer format for the national side, Warner’s inclusion in the squad was inevitable for the SCG Test. He had a superb start to the three-match series, having scored 164 at the Perth Stadium leading the hosts to a massive win.
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The left-hand batter will go down as one of the greats of the game having amassed 8695 runs in Test format from 111 matches. In his illustrious career, he has scored 26 Test hundreds, eighth-highest for the Aussies in the format.
Warner also waved goodbye to the ODI format on Monday, leaving him availableto represent the nation only in the T20I format. Reports suggest he might bid adieu to the T20I format as well after the World Cup in June which will be played in the West Indies and the USA.
Australia XI for New Year's Test
David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (captain), Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc
