Warner missed an opportunity to play final Test in Sydney: Ponting

David Warner’s stretch of bad form has been running the circles for some time now in international cricket. Whilst the left-handed did get a double-century against South Africa in December, his performance in the ongoing series against India wasn’t quite the best, leading to several claiming that the southpaw could have played his last Test. 

Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting opined that the New South Wales batter had the perfect opportunity to retire from the longest format during the recently concluded series against South Africa, in Sydney. 

"... I thought the absolute best time for Davey to retire, if he was thinking about it at all, was after the Sydney Test match here in Australia," Ponting told the ICC Review programme in an interview published on Sunday. 

"He'd just played his 100th Test in Melbourne, and obviously got 200 in the first innings down there. And to bow out in front of his home crowd is obviously the way that every player would like to finish their careers. 

"Who knows now that opportunity might not come around again for Davey. That's nearly another 12 months away."

Having said all of that, Ponting still insisted that this isn’t the last time Warner would be donning the Baggy Green. 

"(Australia) have got some really big decisions to make, leading into the Ashes as well," added Ponting, who retired from international cricket in 2012. 

"I don't think it's the end of David Warner, I think they'll bring him back for that one game. If he does well there, then I think he'll probably start the Ashes and see from there."