The Australian team's national selector, George Bailey, confirmed that David Warner will not be considered for the squad for Champions Trophy 2025. Warner retired from all formats of the game for Australia after the T20 World Cup 2024. His last match for Australia was against India when the Mitchell Marsh-led side lost by 24 runs. Australia failed to qualify for the semi-final stage of the tournament, which meant the end of the road for Warner in his international career. However, Warner kept the doors open to appear in next year's Champions Trophy, which will be played in Pakistan.
Bailey said that Warner was considered fully retired and appreciated him for the legacy which he left behind as an all-format player. Despite the retirement, Warner had hinted in a social media post that he would be available for selection. "Our understanding is that David is retired and [he] should be commended on what was an incredible career across all three formats," Bailey said. "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."
The 37-year-old southpaw had retired from Tests and ODIs after the three-match Test series against Pakistan in January earlier this year. His last ODI appearance was against India when Australia lifted the ODI World Cup 2023.However, Bailey clarified that the doors to the national team were not shut on the likes of Ashton Agar and Matthew Wade, who were left out of the squads for the white-ball series in the UK. Even Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell, who have been picked only for the ODI leg of that tour, aren't out of reckoning building up to the next T20 World Cup - in India and Sri Lanka in 2026. Bailey also had words of praise for the captain of that squad, Mitchell Marsh, who will lead both the white-ball formats with ODI captain Pat Cummins rested ahead of the big home summer which features a visit from India. "I loved the way he captained through the T20 World Cup," Bailey said. "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."
