The Victorian picked genius Aussie batter, Steve Smith as his first choice. Smith, who was recently appointed as Test vice-captain of the Australian team, has been a prolific run-scorer in modern-day cricket.
Warner reckoned that Smith has the amazing potential to play against all bowling attacks in the world, irrespective of the conditions. Notably, Smith is the second-ranked Test batter in the world at present in the players’ rankings of the International Cricket Council (ICC). Smith has so far scored 7552 runs in 78 Tests at an astounding average of 61.4 with the help of 27 hundreds and 31 half-centuries.
“I’ve got Steve Smith. I just think overall conditions against all bowling attacks for a long period of time Steve Smith has been outstanding,” said Warne in a video clip shared by Fox Cricket on their official Instagram handle.
For the second choice, Warne went with England Test skipper Joe Root. The Yorkshire cricketer has been quite phenomenal this calendar year. The right-handed batter has scored more than 1500 runs this year with the help of six centuries. Root is also the top rank holder among the Test batters in the ICC players’ rankings.
After Root, Warne picked New Zealand and India Test captains Kane Williamson and Virat Kohli, respectively. Warne felt Williamson would always be there on the list due to his superior consistency. For the Indian star, the 52-year-old observed Kohli has gone down a little in the form.
Warne then named rising Aussie cricketer Marnus Labuschagne as his last pick to complete the list. Labuschagne, the fourth-ranked Test batter, has already scored close to 2000 runs (1959) in his relatively short career (19 Tests).
“Joe Root is at number two, he’s made six hundreds this calendar year. Kane Williamson is always there. Virat Kohli just dropped off a little bit. But then Marnus rounds up the top five for me,” added Warne.
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