David Warner has revealed the possibility of a slow start in last year's Ashes had left him to consider bringing his Test retirement forward to the second match of that series.
The veteran opener will play his 112th and final Test on his home deck, the SCG, when Australia hunts a 3-0 series whitewash against Pakistan this week.
Before the World Test Championship final and Ashes over the Australian winter, Warner flagged his intention to call time after the Sydney Test, a grand plan that emboldened his always vocal critics.
"There was a lot of talk about me and my form. I wanted to nip it in the bud early," Warner said on Monday.
The 37-year-old dispelled lingering doubts over his ability to make it to the SCG with a masterful 164 in the first Test against Pakistan in Perth, and a fairytale farewell is now set to begin from Wednesday.
But had he and opening partner Usman Khawaja struggled early in the Ashes, or had Australia not won the first two Tests at Edgbaston and Lord's, things could have panned out differently.
"I said my ideal preparation to finish would be Sydney," Warner recalled.
"But I actually had Lord's pencilled in as my last Test, especially if I didn't go as well as I did as a partnership with Uzzie at the top of the order.
"If you're down 2-0, and you go into that third one, and you lose that, I don't think it's the right choice to make (to keep playing).
"If I was failing and we hadn't won, then it would have been an easier decision. I didn't want to put the team or the selectors in a position where they had to think about, 'Mate, it's time to push on'.
"It was more about me just going, 'I'm content with that. I'm happy with it, I've had a great career'."
A maiden Test century in England eluded Warner in his fourth away Ashes.
But he made starts in the first two matches, most notably reaching 66 at Lord's - his highest score in a Test in England for nearly eight years.
Warner's opening partnership with Khawaja passed 60 in three of Australia's first four Ashes innings, leaving him to feel he had earned his SCG swansong.
"As a team and as a whole we did our bit, so to get this ending is awesome," he said.
Warner admitted emotions had begun to stir since the first Test against Pakistan in Perth.
"When I looked at Lord's as a potential finish, I didn't really have many emotions because I was content," he said.
"But definitely it's been emotional since Perth, since I've been back in Australia and knowing that I'm playing (my final Test).
"Getting that 160, putting us into a great position for the team, it hit home when people in the streets were coming up and saying, 'Well done, we support you, we back you'.
"It really means a lot."
