The Proteas - captained by Quinton de Kock - take on Australia, who host the Twenty20 World Cup later in 2020, in three T20Is and three ODIs, starting on Friday in Johannesburg.
In an ill-tempered 2018 Test series against South Africa, Warner was suspended, along with Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft, for his involvement in the tourists' ball-tampering scandal.
However, Warner, who also became embroiled in sledging matches with South Africa fans, does not feel tempers will flare once again this time around.
He reasons that, due to the short and sweet nature of the tour, there is not enough time for the teams to forge a rivalry.
"It's one-day cricket and Twenty20 cricket and you don't really have much time over the short period of the time to get underneath each other's skin or anything like that," Warner told reporters.
"And you don't go out there to do that. Obviously, they [South Africa] had some heated exchanges with the English and that was during the Test matches.
"For us, our focus is on moving forward and trying to get the wins on the board and send a message to everyone that the World Cup is in our backyard and we want to be a team to be beaten."
De Kock, in particular, clashed with Warner during the 2018 tour, and South Africa's new white-ball captain is not as certain as Australia's batsman that there would be no bad blood between the sides.
"If something ignites, maybe if a player decides to take on another player, then maybe the fierceness from both teams will reignite again," de Kock said.
"Who knows? Maybe not. Maybe we just play the game hard."
When asked if he and Warner had brushed aside their differences, De Kock said: "We haven't really had any conversations. Me and him have moved on from there.
"We look to just play cricket. We both love to play the game really hard. I don't think anything will happen. We will just carry on. We won't worry too much about it."
Australia – the world's top-ranked T20 side – looked to be cruising to victory when openers Aaron Finch (46) and Warner (58) got them off to a strong start as they bid to chase down England's meagre 162-7, a total boosted by Dawid Malan (66).
Yet a glut of wickets resulted in the tourists, playing for the first time since March due to the coronavirus pandemic, needing 15 from the last over.
Despite the efforts of Marcus Stoinis (23 not out), England held on for a two-run triumph, a result which left Warner, who insisted Australia must improve on finding the boundary during difficult spells in the middle of the innings, reeling.
"There's no excuses there. I think the guys were outplayed to be honest. Well executed by England at the end and we just couldn't get across the line," Warner told a news conference.
"When you're losing wickets, trying to get momentum out there. I pride myself on being there at the end but you can't help getting good deliveries.
"When you're chasing a run a ball, good shots get you close to that end result. It's disappointing because I think it's three or four games in a row now.
"You've got to work out the wicket as the ball gets older. They were bashing a length, it was quite inconsistent. We've played practice games on this which but we felt it was a bit different at night. You've got to assess those conditions when you're out there but we've been playing this game a long time and we should be able to do that.
"I felt we did, we just didn't hit the boundaries as much as we'd have liked through that middle period.
"We'll have a chat on what to work on for the next game, how to apply that. We're playing the next two games on this wicket but the next game is a day game, so that could be a bit drier and a little bit different."
There was one positive for Warner, at least.
"From a crowd perspective, no," Warner said when asked if the match felt like a game between England and Australia without fans in attendance.
"It was the first time I've been here and not got abuse. It was quite nice!
"But yet again, you get that up and going [from the crowd]. That's why we love playing home and away. There's home advantage and away advantage. It was a bit bizarre, but we're always up for international cricket. We're just grateful to be back playing and want to make the most of that."
Warner and then-captain Steve Smith were banned from cricket for a year after being found guilty of using sandpaper to damage the ball during a Test match against South Africa.
Cameron Bancroft, who carried out the act, was also suspended for nine months.
Warner was ruled out of any leadership positions for Australia throughout the rest of his career after it was found that he orchestrated the plan, while Smith knew about it but failed to prevent it.
The 37-year-old is set to retire from international cricket at the end of the T20 World Cup and admitted he was looking forward to not being reminded of the scandal when he does.
"One can only absorb so much," Warner told Cricket Australia. "Coming back since 2018, I've probably been the only one that's ever copped a lot of flak.
"I've always been that person who has copped it. It's great to go out knowing I'm not going to cop it anymore."
Australia are currently competing for their second T20 World Cup title, previously winning the tournament in 2021, with Warner remaining a key part of the team after returning from his ban.
While Warner admits he will probably always be associated with the ball-tampering scandal, he is hopeful his career will be viewed in a different light when he retires.
"If they're real cricket tragics, and they love cricket, they will always see me as that cricketer - someone who tried to change the game," he added.
"Someone who tried to follow in the footsteps of the openers before me, and try and score runs at a great tempo and change Test cricket."
Australia face Bangladesh in the Super 8s of the T20 World Cup on Friday.
Opening batter Warner was embroiled in controversy back in 2018, partnering with Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft as the trio were punished for their involvement in a ball-tampering scandal against South Africa.
All three players were handed a year-long ban for their role in the Newlands Test scandal, though Warner was punished the most severely as he was banned from holding a leadership position ever again.
The 35-year-old expressed fears he would never play for his country again but has since returned to enjoy T20 World Cup success, coupled with an Ashes demolition of England.
While Warner has quietly returned to the fore both nationally and domestically, growing calls have suggested his ban should be removed so he can replace Usman Khajawa as Sydney Thunder captain in the Big Bash League.
"That hasn't really been brought to the table," he said on Sunday when asked if there could be a change of heart at Cricket Australia.
"As I've said plenty of times off the record, it's upon the board to reach out to me and open their doors. Then I can sit down and have an honest conversation with them.
"The board has changed since back in 2018 and when all those sanctions were dealt. It would be great to have a conversation with them and see where we are at."
Regardless of whether Warner holds a position within Pat Cummins' Australian leadership team or with the Thunder, the left-handed opener believes he can still play a role without a title.
"I've got the experience, I'm a leader in the side anyway without having a title," he added.
"That's what I'm about, giving back, so if they [younger players] can pick my brains in any way, my phone is always there, they have my number, and they can see me when I'm at the practice facilities."
All-rounder Mitchell Marsh, opening batsman Marcus Harris and wicketkeeper Josh Inglis have earned recalls with few major shocks in the Australian touring party. Marsh missed most of the Australian summer due to an ankle injury.
Harris was preferred ahead of in-form opener Cameron Bancroft, despite the latter topping the 2022-23 Sheffield Shield scoring charts by almost 300 runs, with 945 runs at 59.06 including four centuries.
Peter Handscomb, Ashton Agar, Mitch Swepson and Matthew Kuhnemann miss out on selection after being called in for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India. Fast bowler Lance Morris is unavailable for selection due to a back injury.
Matthew Renshaw has retained his spot after scoring two centuries for Australia A against New Zealand A earlier this month, while 35-year-old Warner will return after a fractured elbow sustained during the India series.
Warner's selection will raise eyebrows, having scored just one Test century in his past 32 innings, albeit a gritty 200 in the recent Boxing Day Test against South Africa.
The veteran opener averaged only 9.5 across 10 innings in that last Ashes in England in 2019, with Stuart Broad dismissing him seven times.
Australia will take on India in the World Test Championship final from June 7 at The Oval in London, followed by the five-Test Ashes series from June 16 at Edgbaston. The selectors have clarified they will revisit the squad after the first two Ashes Tests.
"The UK is a very different assignment from our most recent tour of India and some of the changes are based upon the conditions we are anticipating," National Selection Panel Chair of Selectors George Bailey said.
"Marcus, Josh and Mitch return to the squad and provide valuable depth and flexibility within their respective skillsets.
"We see value in revisiting the squad following the second Ashes Test given the short turnaround between the WTC final and the first Ashes Test, along with the length of the tour."
Australia won the 2021-22 Ashes on home soil 4-0, while the 2019 series in England ended 2-2. The Australians will compete in the World Test Championship final for the first time with New Zealand beating India to the inaugural crown in 2021.
Squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner
Warner will sit out the blockbuster clash as he continues to recover from a groin injury, which sidelined him for the opening Test in Adelaide, where Australia won by eight wickets.
The 34-year-old Warner suffered an adductor injury during the second ODI against India last month as he watched Australia humble the tourists in the day-night contest at Adelaide Oval.
Australia paceman Abbott has returned to full fitness, but he will also be absent for the second Test due to Cricket Australia's (CA) strict biosecurity protocols amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Warner and Abbott both departed for Melbourne on Saturday as a COVID-19 outbreak moves through Sydney, though they will be unable to enter the squad's hub.
"David Warner and Sean Abbott will re-join the Australian men's Test squad ahead of the third Test against India," a CA spokesman said.
"Warner and Abbott spent time in Sydney outside the team's bio-secure hub to recover from injury. While neither player has been in a specific 'hotspot' as outlined by NSW Health, Cricket Australia's biosecurity protocols do not allow them to re-join the squad in time for the Boxing Day Test.
"Warner has not fully recovered from a groin injury suffered in the ODI Series against India and would not have been available for the second Test match, while Abbott has recovered from a calf strain sustained during Australia A's tour match against India and would have been available for selection for the Boxing Day Test.
"The pair travelled from Sydney to Melbourne to continue their rehabilitation given the changing public health situation in Sydney at the time."
Matthew Wade and Joe Burns opened the batting for Australia in the first Test against India, and the pair are in line to continue atop the order.
Wade (33) and Burns (51 not out) put on a 70-run stand as Australia embarrassed Virat Kohli's India, who were held to a record-low Test score of 36 in the second innings.
The Boxing Day matchup will be the 100th men's Test between Australia and India, just the seventh fixture in the game's history to reach a century of iterations – Australia have won 43 of their previous 99 Tests against India (D27, L28).
Steve Smith (1,431) needs just 69 runs to become the fifth Australia player to reach 1,500 Test runs against India. His batting average of 79.5 from his 22 innings is the highest of any Australian to have logged more than six innings against them.
Australia spinner Nathan Lyon requires nine more wickets to reach 400 in Test cricket – only Shane Warne (708) and Glenn McGrath (563) have taken more for Australia in the men's format.
Warner, 34, suffered an adductor injury during the second ODI against India last month and will miss the Test series opener, which begins in Adelaide on December 17.
The left-hander is pushing to return for the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.
"I feel I have made great progress in a short amount of time and it's best for me to stay here in Sydney to continue working on getting back to full fitness," Warner said in a statement on Wednesday.
"The injury feels a lot better, but I need to be able to satisfy in my own mind and to my team-mates that it is 100 per cent ready for Test match conditions.
"That includes running between the wickets and being agile in the field. Right now I feel I am short of being able to play at peak fitness and another 10 days will make a difference."
Australia head coach Justin Langer praised Warner, saying: "If there is one guy you know will go well above and beyond that's Dave.
"He has done an incredible job to get to where he is today and we hope to have a fully fit David Warner at his absolute best in Melbourne."
Much of the talk ahead of the series has centred around Warner's opening partner for the first Test, with Will Pucovski pushing for Joe Burns' spot.
Burns' poor form continued with scores of four and a duck in Australia A's drawn tour match against India.
The in-form Pucovski, meanwhile, made one in the first innings and was on 23 in the second before retiring hurt after being hit in the helmet by a Kartik Tyagi bouncer.
Australia A's second tour match against India begins in Sydney on Friday.
Warner was substituted out of the second Test defeat after the first day, having been struck on the grille of his helmet while batting facing Mohammad Siraj during his innings.
The 36-year-old left-hander also copped another delivery to his elbow, with X-rays confirming he had sustained a hairline fracture which will end his Test series at a time when he has been under pressure to hold his spot.
"David Warner has been ruled out of the Qantas test tour of India and will return home," CA said in a statement on Tuesday.
"After further assessment, he will require a period of rehabilitation which will preclude any further involvement in the remainder of the Test series.
"It is currently anticipated that he will return to India for the three One-Day Internationals which follow the Test Series."
Warner's departure follows fast bowler Josh Hazlewood who has been ruled out with Achilles soreness, while captain Pat Cummins has rushed back to Australia for a family health issue.
Australia are 2-0 down in the series, with India having already retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy following batting collapses by the tourists in both Tests.
Warner had struggled in his three innings with the bat in India, managing only 26 runs, having ended his Test century drought with a double hundred during the Boxing Day Test against South Africa.
Renshaw replaced Warner as a concussion substitute in the second Test, although Travis Head opened the batting in his absence in the second innings.
All-rounder Cameron Green is in line to return for Australia following a finger injury, with the third Test to commence in Indore on Wednesday March 1.
The opener struck a terrific 106 in Australia's thumping win over England on Tuesday that sealed a 3-0 ODI series victory.
He joined Travis Head (156) in an opening partnership worth 269 runs, which set a record for the first wicket at the MCG.
Australia prevailed by 221 runs under Duckworth-Lewis-Stern rules at the Melbourne venue where nine days previously England celebrated winning the T20 World Cup. It was England's heaviest ODI defeat, runs-wise.
The latest century for left-hander Warner was his fifth against England and a first since the Boxing Day Test in 2017, taking him to 3,067 runs across all formats against Australia's great rivals.
That is the most runs he has scored against any opposition, albeit he has faced England 69 times and no other team on more than 50 occasions.
Indeed, Warner's all-formats batting average of 34.46 against England is the lowest he has achieved against any international team he has faced more than twice.
He was rightly jubilant to get to three figures this time, though, saying: "I think we played fantastic in this series.
"We know that with England [winning] the World Cup, and a long tournament, these games are quite hard to get up for.
"But we played exceptional cricket, the bowlers did a fantastic job and the batters just went out there and tried to execute as well as we could, especially in the power play, and we managed to do that."
Addressing a long wait for the next ODI to be played at home, which is set to come when West Indies tour in early 2024, Warner said: "Look, 2024 is a long time away. There's a lot of cricket to be played in-between there, obviously in all three formats.
"If I can keep keeping fit, scoring runs and doing the best I can for the team, yeah, I might be here."
Warner will turn 38 in October 2024 and has indicated he could retire from Tests after next year's Ashes series in England, but he evidently sees the short format as an area where he might sustain his career for longer.
England captain Jos Buttler is thriving as a limited-overs specialist, even if his team came a cropper during this series.
"We tried our best. We fell a long way short. I thought Australia outplayed us in every department and all credit to them," Buttler said.
Yet he and England will return home as world champions in cricket's shortest international format.
"We've got lots to be proud of," Buttler said. "You don't need a long memory to remember the scenes here last week. We got exactly what we wanted from coming here and we're very proud of that."
Burns is under pressure ahead of the first Test against India, with Will Pucovski starring for Victoria to begin the Sheffield Shield season.
In 27 Test innings, Burns and Warner have scored 1,365 runs at an average of 50.55, including averaging 65.4 against Pakistan and New Zealand in 2019-20.
Warner is happy with the stability of Burns, but said Pucovski – who has scored 495 runs at an average of 247.5 to begin the Shield campaign – was in fine form.
"To be honest, I've had over a dozen opening partners and it's never been quite stable," he told a news conference on Monday.
"Obviously, when I was batting with 'Bucky' [Chris] Rogers, we had a great partnership and we bonded really well together out in the middle. I think something with me and Joe, we've done that over the past few years.
"I've known Joe for a long time. We've played out in the middle together, we know each other's game very well but, at the end of the day, it's upon the selectors to pick the right person to fit that position.
"If they go the way of Will, he is obviously batting fantastic. He has been in and out of the Test squad and, obviously, removed himself in some sad times, obviously, with his mental stuff.
"He is in the right frame of mind at the moment. It probably is an opportunity for him to come into the team but, as we know, it's harder to get out of this team than get in. Whoever they go with, I will be well and truly happy with as long as that person who comes in does their job.
"At the moment, I didn't think Joe did anything wrong last summer. We put on some great partnerships, averaged over 60 and that's what you want from your opening partnership so at the end of the day, it's upon the selectors to pick their team and I've got to be happy with that and just embrace it."
As Pucovski has starred, Burns has scored just 57 runs in his five Sheffield Shield innings.
Warner said he saw no reason to change a partnership that has worked with Burns, who averages 38.3 in Tests.
"It's not a thing where the coach and selectors will come to me and ask me. It's just a preference," Warner said.
"I have batted time with Joe Burns before in the middle. I know exactly what we are about when we're out there, building a partnership and building a bond.
"We won a lot of games last year. For me you don't really break something that's actually working, it's usually the opposite. When things aren't going your way, you've got to find problems and solutions, that's the only thing I can sort of back that answer up with.
"To get into the Australian team, you've got to put numbers on the board and Will's an exceptional talent and a great player for years to come especially, he's in the right mind frame at the moment. This next sort of [Australia] A game is probably going to be the tell all, it could be the bat off for that position so it's going to be interesting to see and obviously it's up to the selectors to pick the team at the end of the day, not me."
The first Test between Australia and India is set to begin in Adelaide on December 17.
The Capitals confirmed on Thursday that Warner had been selected to stand in for Pant, who is recovering from a serious car accident.
Pant's car caught fire in December causing multiple injuries that required surgery earlier this year. He has been ruled out of cricket for 2023.
Head coach Ricky Ponting was among the figures to make the decision to name Warner as captain, meaning Axar Patel will again serve as vice-captain as he did in the 2022 campaign.
"Rishabh has been a terrific leader for Delhi Capitals, and we're all going to miss having him around," Warner said in a team statement.
"I would like to thank the management for the faith and trust they've always shown in me.
"This franchise has always been home for me, and I couldn't be more excited to lead such a supremely talented bunch of players."
Warner was an IPL winner with Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016 and returned to Delhi last season, having previously played for the franchise when they were known as the Daredevils.
The batter is set to play in a three-match ODI series for Australia against India ahead of the IPL, which starts on March 31.
He will be spending much of the year in India, with those two commitments helping his preparation for the Cricket World Cup, which is being held in the country from October.
Warner, 36, was the leading run-scorer for the Capitals in last year's IPL, tallying five fifties and a total of 432 runs at an average of 48 and a strike rate of 151.
However, Delhi narrowly missed making the play-offs, the first time in four seasons they had failed to qualify. Gujarat Titans took the title in their first season.
Opening batter Warner was banned from elite cricket for a year and from leadership positions for life in 2018 for his role in the sandpaper scandal at Newlands in 2018.
The 36-year-old expressed fears he would never play for his country again but has since returned to enjoy T20 World Cup success, coupled with an Ashes demolition of England.
Warner was given the chance to appeal against the decision after Cricket Australia's code of conduct changed in November, but he has now confirmed he will no longer do so.
In a lengthy social media post on the eve of Australia's second Test against West Indies, Warner said: "My family is more important to me than cricket.
"To some extent the Review Panel want to conduct a public trial of me and what occurred during the third Test at Newlands.
"They want to conduct a public spectacle to, in the Panel's words, have a "cleansing". I am not prepared for my family to be the washing machine for cricket's dirty laundry.
"The Panel's given no more than passing consideration to issues of player welfare and the interests of Australian cricket and is instead determined to conduct a public lynching.
"Regrettably, I have no practical alternative at this point in time but to withdraw my application.
"I'm not prepared to subject my family or my team-mates to further trauma and disruption by accepting a departure from the way in which my application should be dealt with pursuant to the Code of Conduct. Some things are more important than cricket."
Cricket Australia said it was disappointed with the outcome but respected Warner's decision.
"We are disappointed with this outcome as our intention was to give David the opportunity to demonstrate why his lifetime leadership ban should be varied at an independent hearing and we amended our Code of Conduct accordingly," Wednesday's statement read.
"We supported David's wish for these discussions to be heard behind closed doors and respect his decision to withdraw his application.
"David is a very senior and highly regarded member of the Australian team who has been a great ambassador for the game as a whole since his return from a year-long ban."
The pair were both named as part of a 23- preliminary squad for the July series, which will consist of five T20Is and three ODIs, but recent reports are suggesting that Cricket Australia is contemplating resting the players, in order to give them more time with their families as fissions within the squad have appeared.
The issue came back into the public spotlight after recent comments were made by bowler Collin Bancroft who hinted that the team’s bowlers were aware of the plan to use sandpaper on the ball during the Test against South Africa.
The 2018 incident had led to bans for then Australia captain Steve Smith and vice-captain Warner and Bancroft. The team’s bowlers Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, and Nathan Lyon all issued a statement denying any involvement in the issue but another investigation from Cricket Australia now seems likely.
Several players were left discontented after Warner’s manager, James Erskine recently came out openly to say that the Sandpaper Gate was handled badly and eventually the truth will come out.
Australia were thrashed by an innings and 80 runs in Hobart in November 2016, after being bowled out for 85 in their first innings.
James Erskine said Warner, his client, has been unfairly treated after his part in the sandpaper scandal at Newlands in March 2018, and pointed back to the Hobart game.
Opening batter Warner was banned from elite cricket for a year and from leadership positions for life after he was deemed to have been the instigator in the plot to alter the condition of the ball in Cape Town.
However, Erskine says there was more to the episode than has thus far come to light.
He told the SEN radio network: "When the truth comes out, everyone's going to turn around and say, 'Well, why was David Warner picked upon?'.
"The truth will come out. Let me tell you. Someone will... there's lots of people. There's two cricketers who put their hands up and said, 'Why don't we all just tell the truth? They can't fire all of us.'
"That's what happened. Two senior executives were in the changing rooms in Hobart and basically were berating the team for losing to South Africa.
"Warner said we've got to reverse-swing the ball, and the only way we can reverse-swing the ball is basically by tampering with it. So they were told to do it."
Erskine did not accuse the executives of being those responsible for giving the go-ahead to tamper with the ball.
He did, however, stress the three players punished for the scandal – Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft – were far from the only people involved.
Erskine said: "You'd have to be a blind black labrador, there was far more than three people involved in this thing, they all got a canning and David Warner was completely villainised.
"He has shut up, he protected Cricket Australia, he protected his fellow players on my advice, because at the end of the day no one wanted to hear any more of it and he's got on playing cricket."
Cricket Australia has yet to comment on Erskine's latest claims.
Warner this week withdrew his appeal against a lifetime captaincy ban with Australia, saying he has no interest in "a public lynching" over his part in the controversy.
The 36-year-old, who has returned to favour since his ban, was given the chance to appeal against the decision after Cricket Australia's code of conduct changed in November, but has now confirmed he will no longer do so.
Warner suffered a groin strain as Australia clinched an ODI series victory over India thanks to Sunday's 51-run win in Sydney.
The Australia star has returned home to begin rehabilitation ahead of the opening day-night Test in Adelaide on December 17.
Warner will miss Wednesday's third and final ODI in Canberra, as well as the three-game Twenty20 series – D'Arcy Short the batsman's replacement.
Pat Cummins, who has no injury concerns, will also sit out the short-format games, though no replacement has been called up for the paceman.
"Pat and Davie are critical to our plans for the Test series," said Australia head coach Justin Langer.
"Davie will work through his injury rehab and in Pat's case it is important all of our players are managed well to keep them mentally and physically fit throughout what is a challenging summer.
"The priority for both is being fully prepared for one of the biggest and most important home Test series we have played in recent years, especially with World Test Championship points up for grabs."
Australia recorded their biggest ODI score at the SCG after reaching 389-4, the country's second highest overall on home soil, as Steve Smith posted a 62-ball century.
It was the highest total conceded by India in an ODI away from home – four of the five highest totals conceded have come at the hands of Australia, with three in Sydney.
After victory at Edgbaston in the series opener was followed by a draw at Lord's, Australia appeared set to retain the urn when they seized control of the third Test, bowling their rivals out for just 67 on the second day.
Set an unlikely 359 to win in Leeds, England's hopes looked to be over when they slipped to 286-9. However, aided by last man Jack Leach, Stokes smashed the hosts to an astonishing one-wicket victory.
The all-rounder finished up on 135 not out, though only after surviving a strong lbw shout against Nathan Lyon, who had spilled a simple run-out out opportunity to dismiss Leach from the previous delivery.
As shown in the Amazon Prime documentary 'The Test: A New Era for Australia's Team', head coach Justin Langer called the squad together the following day to watch back footage of the fourth day's play, a move Cummins thought was a risk as emotions were still running high.
The fast bowler told the Guardian: "The feeling around the group was, ‘What's he (Langer) doing? He's got this one way off'.
"I remember getting the message and I thought, ‘C'mon, we’ve all gone through this, just give us a day off.'
"Everyone had played it over in their head a hundred times that night. I just remember thinking it's better if we sleep on it, have a good day off, forget about it, and come together once we've all mellowed down a little bit.
"It was literally 15 hours after the last ball, so emotions were still high. That was the context of the meeting, everyone was still hurting."
Australia went on to win the next match in Manchester and while England claimed the finale at The Oval, a 2-2 result made sure the tourists' grip on the Ashes remained.
"We all left that meeting thinking, 'You know what, if we did the same thing a hundred times over, we'd win 99 times out of 100'," Cummins continued.
He [Stokes] just had a day out, played incredibly well. We had a couple of chances we missed but, do you know what, in the end it was just that last bit where someone had a day out and it came off."
The former Australia all-rounder has decided to end his playing career after concluding his duties for the Chennai Super Kings at the 2020 Indian Premier League.
Watson - who scored 14 in his final appearance against Kolkata Knight Riders - played in 59 Tests, 190 one-dayers and 58 Twenty20 games during an international career that spanned 14 years.
Since his last appearance for Australia in 2016, the 39-year-old has been in action in T20 leagues around the world, including stints in the IPL, Pakistan Super League and the Caribbean Premier League.
"It all started out as a dream," Watson said in a video posted to his own YouTube channel. "As a young kid saying to my mum as I watched a Test match as a five-year-old, 'I want to play cricket for Australia'.
"Now as I officially announce my retirement from all cricket, I feel crazily lucky to have lived out my dream and then some.
"It really does feel like the right time knowing I played my last game of cricket ever for my beloved CSK who have been so incredibly good to me over the last three years.
"To think I'm finishing up my playing days as a 39-year-old after all of my injury setbacks along the way, I feel so ridiculously fortunate."
Watson scored four Test hundreds and averaged just over 40 in the ODI format, often batting at the top of the order for Australia.
The big-hitting right-hander starred for Chennai in the 2018 IPL final, smashing 117 not out to help the franchise secure a third title in their history.
He scored 299 runs at an average of 29.90 in this season's competition in Abu Dhabi, though was unable to help the Super Kings qualify for the play-offs.
Three consecutive victories in ODIs against England have put Australia in a better spot heading into a series of Tests against the West Indies and South Africa either side of the new year.
The Ashes then follows in June, with the World Cup in India to close out the year, and former Australia captain Waugh is confident about his side's chances.
"We've got a good cricket side, there's no doubt about that. We got a really good bowling attack, so they're capable of winning matches," he told Stats Perform.
"I think we'll beat West Indies pretty convincingly. Then we've got three Tests against South Africa, an emerging test side with a really good bowling attack. But I think they're batting is not quite up to standard.
"I think Australia will win most Test matches. But then they've got some hard Test matches coming up overseas. It's a long difficult period. It's 12 months of non-stop cricket for Australia."
Waugh highlighted the importance in getting wins on the board now to build up momentum for the Ashes, where Australia are looking to retain the urn.
"The Ashes is a big tournament for Australian cricket that's coming up in about less than 12 months now. We're looking towards that," he added.
"But in the meantime, they've West Indies and South Africa. I think will win those series, then we've got India away, which is really hard, and then the Ashes.
"The Ashes is hard to win. It's a tough assignment, but the guys are capable of winning.
"It's a long way off, and it might come down to which sides have fewer injuries to key players. If England have Jofra Archer playing, they're going to have a chance of winning."
Waugh also sprung to the defence of captain Pat Cummins, who has been outspoken on climate change and has come under the spotlight for his stance.
"He's realising that captaincy can be a difficult assignment. One minute people love you, the next minute they don't like you and your opinions matter," he explained.
"He's bought into the climate change issues and sponsorship. And yes, there's a few issues that have been around the side. I guess he's realised that maybe he's got more power than he thought he has.
"Whatever he says carries a lot of weight. And sometimes you've gotta be pretty careful what you say. But I think he's done a very good job as a captain on the field.
"He's learning as he goes along, which is only natural. He's pretty young for a captain."
Steve Waugh is an ambassador for the Laureus Challenge 2022, presented by Sierra Space.
In the end, the West Indies triumphed in an 18-run win in St Lucia on Friday but at one point seemed headed for a certain defeat. On the back of a century from Mitchell Marsh, the Australians had put 70 for the loss of three wickets on the board, at the end of the power play.
However, Walsh Jr combined with the man of the match Obed McCoy and the spinners decimated the Australia line-up as the visitors lost their last six wickets for 19 runs. Walsh Jr accounted for Marsh in his haul of 3 for 23, while McCoy ended with 4 for 26.
“We just kept believing and we just kept thinking we were always in the game. We were picking up wickets all the time so with us picking up wickets we just felt we were always in the game,” Walsh said following the match.
“When I came on to bowl, the way that I bowled I just had the feeling that these guys were going to have trouble playing me and getting the ball off the square and hitting boundaries,” he added.
The spinner was returning to the squad for the first time since November of last year.
Against top-ranked Australia, the Windies found very little joy and suffered a lopsided 7-wickets loss in their fourth match of the tournament. Prior to that, the team struggled to deal with India’s powerful batting line-up in a 155-run defeat.
The results stand in sharp contrast to the Caribbean women's heady start to the tournament, which featured victories over New Zealand and England. It is those victories, however, that Matthews believes stands the team in good stead, despite its recent patch of bad form.
“Coming into this tournament we knew our first four games were likely going to be the hardest. We kind of said to ourselves if we can get two or three wins out of these four games we would be in a strong position and we’ve done exactly that,” Matthews told members of the media.
“Looking at the rest of the games, these are games we should expect to win and the good thing about it is that things are still in our hands. If we go out there and we can win all three of our games we will be qualifying for the semi-finals,” she added.
The West Indies will face Bangladesh, Pakistan, and South Africa in their remaining three matches.
“I don’t think there is much pressure at the moment. We know we have the kind of team that once we go out there and play our best cricket we will get the wins.”
