'Had Ashes Game At...': David Warner On His Initial Test Retirement Venue

Australian opener David Warner on Monday revealed that he was ready to walk away from Test cricket following the second Ashes Test at Lord's last year had he not scored any runs. Warner will bid farewell to the longest format of the game with the third Test against Pakistan at his home arena of Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). At the start of the tour to the UK ahead of the ICC World Test Championship final against India, Warner had made his intentions clear to retire from whites at his home stadium but also said that form would play a part.

During that time, selectors had also named the squad for only the first two Ashes Tests initially, as per ESPNCricinfo.

Ahead of the final Test against Pakistan, Warner talked about how the Lord's Test could have been his farewell had he felt that he was not contributing to the team.

"I said quite clearly in England before the World Test Championship, there was a lot of talk about me and my form, [and] I wanted to nip it in the bud early, I said my ideal preparation to finish would be Sydney. But I actually had Lord's penciled in as my last Test, especially if I did not go as well as I did as a partnership with Uzzie [Usman Khawaja] at the top of the order," said Warner as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

In that match at Lord's which Australia won, Warner scored 66 and 25 in both innings. He had also made an important 43 in the first innings of the WTC final, setting the tone for centuries by Travis Head and Steve Smith. But the first Ashes Test was mixed, as he could score only nine and 36 at Edgbaston.

In the first two Ashes Tests, Warner had three valuable half-century stands with Usman Khawaja and in the final Test at The Oval, he put on a 140-run stand with Khawaja. The big hundred came