David Warner not to be considered for 2025 Champions Trophy: George Bailey

Melbourne, July 15: Australia men’s chief selector George Bailey has said veteran left-handed opener David Warner will not be considered for selection in the 2025 Champions Trophy.

Warner had said he would end his Australia career after 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup, where the side made a Super Eights exit. But he kept the door open for a last hurrah through 2025 Champions Trophy.

But Bailey has now confirmed that Warner is fully retired from international cricket for Australia, adding that his legacy of being an important all-format player should be applauded now.

“Our understanding is that David is retired, and (he) should be commended on what has been an incredible career across all three formats. You never know when Bull’s joking…think he’s just stirring the pot a bit.

“He’s had a wonderful career, can’t celebrate it enough, and think as time goes by, his legacy of what he has done for Australia and we reflect back on that, the legend of a player is only going to continue to grow. But as far as this team goes and the journey to transition to some different players, in his case across all three formats, it’s going to be exciting,” said Bailey to reporters.

He also said Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Starc are very much in plans for 2025 Champions Trophy and potentially the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup, especially after the duo were rested from T20Is against Scotland and England, respectively, in September.

“I don’t think there’s anyone who’s not there that we’ve put a line through permanently besides David. This is the way we are going with this squad. If opportunities arise or there are gaps at different points there’s nothing to say that Wadey might not come back, but certainly, at this point, we are excited about giving Josh (Inglis) a run.

“The next T20 World Cup is 2026, so I imagine there may be some more changes than what we are seeing in this squad but specifically to those guys (Starc and Maxwell), no we haven’t had any conversations about where they think their T20 journey may finish. Certainly for Glenn and Mitch, the Champions Trophy is very much on the horizon, (and is a) very important tournament for those guys.

“And Starcy in particular, I think he’s going to have a huge summer. Clearly, some of the decisions made around this series are around prioritising and getting guys right for what will be a really big summer. As far as ending players, seeing where guys might finish up, we haven’t had those conversations,” he elaborated.

Bailey signed off by praising Mitchell Marsh for the way he captained Australia in last month’s T20 World Cup, despite the Super Eights exit post defeats to Afghanistan and India. “I loved the way he captained through the T20 World Cup. He was really clear on how he wanted to lead that team. He was as disappointed as anyone that we didn’t get to the end goal that everyone was hoping to achieve, but if you look at his early success rate as a captain across T20 he’s done a really great job.”