He deserves to be there at the start of the summer – Ricky Ponting on David Warner’s place in the Australian Test side

Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has backed David Warner to retain his place in the team’s Test team at the start of the summer. Warner has already revealed that the upcoming Test series against Pakistan will be the last of his career, with the third SCG Test being his swansong in the red-ball format.

Warner had a fantastic run in the ODI World Cup 2023 as he amassed 535 runs in 11 matches at an average of 48.64 and a strike rate of 108.30 and thus he played a key role in Australia’s successful campaign in India.

Warner has scored 8487 runs in 109 Test matches at an average of 44.43 but he has been under the pump for his recent Test form.

“Yeah look, I think he deserves to be there at the start of the summer, but then it’s up to him. I’ve read some reports this week about, the farewell tour and having three Tests in the summer and finishing in Sydney in front of his home crowd. So it’s up to him, if he scores runs in the first few games, then he’ll most likely get that send-off that he’s after,” said Ponting on SEN Cricket.

Ponting said Warner’s place will depend on how he performs in the first Test match at Perth as other batters are also waiting in the wings for their chances.

“But there are a few guys that are queuing up behind him that have been doing a lot of things right in domestic cricket to get their chance to open the batting.That time will obviously come, but when that is, we’ll wait and see. We’ll probably have a clearer picture after that first test match in Perth,” added Ponting.

On the other hand, Ponting reckons Cameron Green might have to sit out and bide his time. Green averaged just over 20 in the three Ashes games against England and Ponting wants the all-rounder to go back to Sheffield Shield to get his confidence back.

“There’s been some talk about Marnus potentially going up and opening the batting and trying to find a way to get Green back in the side as early and as quickly as possible. I actually don’t believe in that. I think Cameron Green might just have to sit back and bide his time and wait for the opportunity to come back. He can get a truckload of runs in Shield cricket and sort of force his way back into the side,” said Ponting.

He added: “Labuschagne has been outstanding at number three for Australia, it’s very much a specialist position. If they moved him up, they’d probably have to move (Steve) Smith up to three. He’s always been that sort of that number four batsman. It always sounds great in theory, to get one of the most talked about and talented young all-rounders back into the side as soon as possible, but it could create some potential issues along the way as well. Unfortunately, that would mean that Green would just have to sit back and wait a while.”

The first Test match between Australia and Pakistan will be played in Perth from December 14.