David Warner plays record-setting knock in last international match in Australia

Australia opener David Warner was in sublime form in the third T20I against West Indies which was played on Tuesday at Perth. The 37-year-old played a terrific knock of 81 in his last international innings at home to finish on 9601 runs in 200 innings in Australia. He is the third-highest run-scorer in international cricket on Australian soil. Two Aussie greats, Ricky Ponting and Allan Border are the only ones to have more runs than Warner in this elite list of batters.

Ponting scored 13232 runs in 209 innings, while Border collected 9811 runs in 308 innings.

The 81-run knock also helped Warner cross 3000-run mark in T20Is as he became only the second Australian batter to do so in men’s T20Is and seventh overall.

Coming to the match. The hosts tweaked their batting order with skipper Mitchell Marsh moving a spot up to open along with Warner. The move did not pay off as Marsh departed having scored 17 runs off 13 balls.

Warner was in fine form as he slammed nine boundaries and three sixes during his knock but his genius went in vain as Australia conceded a 37-run defeat at the hands of West Indies. Chasing a total of 221, Australia fell short by 37 runs at the Perth Stadium. Despite the loss in the final fixture, the Aussies succeeded in winning the series 2-1. Warner was named Player of the Series having scored 173 runs in three matches against the Caribbean side.

“Well and truly done. It’s time for the youngsters to come through and showcase their talent. We’ve got extreme talent here. We’re in good stead for the future,” Warner told Adam Gilchrist at the presentation ceremony in Perth.

Warner is next expected to travel to New Zealand for the three-match T20I series, scheduled to start from February 21. He will feature in the T20 World Cup in West Indies and the USA where Australia will attempt to become the first men’s side to capture all three ICC trophies, along with the World Test Championship and ODI World Cup.

Warner is currently 53 runs behind Aaron Finch on the list of Australia’s leading T20I run-scorers. Having played 102 T20I matches so far, Warner has scored 3067 runs at an average of 33.70. The southpaw enjoys an impressive strike rate of 142.51 in T20I cricket. Warner has so far notched one century and 26 half centuries in this format.

Another record that Warner made on Tuesday was that he became the first from Australia to reach 12000 runs in T20 cricket and second fastest to reach the landmark after Chris Gayle who achieved it in 353 matches. Warner completed the feat in 369 games.

Fastest to 12000 T20 runs:

Chris Gayle: 353 matches

David Warner: 369 matches

Alex Hales: 435 matches

Shoaib Malik: 486 matches

Kieron Pollard: 620 matches