David Warner received a standing ovation on his way to the dressing on Thursday as he played the last innings of his Test career at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). The left-hander could muster just six runs in Australia’s second innings in the ongoing Boxing Day Test before getting knocked over by Mir Hamza after the lunch break.
It was the fifth over of Australia’s second essay which Hamza began with a shorter delivery outside off. Warner was looking for the pull but dragged a thick inside edge back onto the middle stump.
Warner was visibly disappointed over his dismissal but the response from the MCG crowd must have made him emotional. He waved his bat at the crowd and showed a thumps-up before handing his batting gloves to a kid who was excitingly waiting to get a high-five from the veteran Aussie batter.
At the ground where he scored 912 Test runs, and made his T20I debut all those years, David Warner bids farewell to the MCG for one final time #AUSvPAK pic.twitter.com/0XQ6O74meH— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 28, 2023
Warner made his international debut at this ground in a T20I encounter against South Africa in 2009. He have played 11 Test matches at this venue, scoring 912 runs and three hundreds. His best score at MCG came last year when he scored a double hundred against South Africa.
Before moving to MCG, Warner began the ongoing Test series against Pakistan with a blistering Hundred in the first Test in Perth which the hosts won by a massive margin of 360 runs. He got 162 in the first innings but secured a duck in the second. Coming to Melbourne, Warner managed scores of 38 and 6. He will play the last Test match of his career in Sydney, at his home ground, starting January 3.
Pakistan Bounce Back in Melbourne
Australia lost Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne in quick succession as a defiant Pakistan battled hard to stay in the second Test Thursday after Pat Cummins took five wickets to dismiss them for 264.
Cummins ended with 5-48, while Nathan Lyon grabbed 4-73 after Pakistan’s tail wagged in Melbourne to narrow the hosts’ first-innings lead to 54.
It left the Australians with a tricky 15 minutes of the morning session to negotiate, which they failed to do miserably as they slumped to 6-2 at lunch.
(With Agency Inputs)
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