Australia men’s cricket team chief selector George Bailey believes veteran left-handed batsman David Warner will be available to play the T20I series against the West Indies in February. Warner recently announced his retirement from the Test and ODI format and played his last Test match against Pakistan at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
The Australia vs West Indies T20I series will clash with the ILT20 in which David Warner is signed to play for the Dubai Capitals as skipper. Warner currently plays for his Big Bash League franchise, Sydney Thunder, and will travel to the United Arab Emirates to play in the ILT20, which begins on January 20. However, he will miss the ILT20 matches to play for Australia against the West Indies in the T20I series.
After the T20I series against the West Indies, the Australians will tour New Zealand for a T20I series starting February 21, 2024. David Warner is on an Australian central contract and will return for the T20I series against New Zealand.
George Bailey confident in David Warner’s availability in T20Is
Australia chief selector George Bailey stated that David Warner will be selected for the West Indies tour and will also play the 2024 T20 World Cup for the country.
George Bailey said: “He will be part of those T20 matches later in the summer and also in New Zealand.”
George Bailey had previously stated that players contracted by Cricket Australia will not be granted NOCs to play in other cricket leagues until June this year. David Warner is a contracted center back player in Australia until June.
George Bailey said: “I think it’s the same with all of our contracted Australian players. If they are going to be selected in a team, then they will be available. If they are not, then it depends on what kind of domestic cricket responsibilities they have. That’s why I think [Warner] He had flagged it as potentially one of the reasons he made the decision to retire from one-day cricket, but we are still very excited about what he can bring to that T20 team and hope he can add one more major trophy to his cabinet. .”
David Warner was part of Australia’s T20 World Cup winning team in 2021, which was held in the United Arab Emirates. The Australians have been in brilliant form in ICC tournaments over the last few years and won the WTC and ODI World Cup last year.
David Warner bid a brilliant farewell to Test and ODI cricket and played an important role in Australia’s 3-0 victory over Pakistan in the three-match Test series. Warner played an innings of 164 runs in the first Test match played in Perth.
The Australians will want to continue their golden streak in ICC events and add another ICC trophy to their cabinet. The T20 World Cup 2024 will be held in the USA and West Indies starting June 2, 2024. Australia is part of Group B, which consists of teams like England, Oman, Scotland and Namibia. Australia’s first match of the tournament will be against Oman on June 5, 2024.
Coming back to the tournament, Australia, England and India are big favorites to win the tournament while Pakistan and South Africa are also the outside contenders to win the tournament.
