Mitchell Johnson stands by his statements on David Warner, even after Warner’s impressive century in the ongoing first Test against Pakistan. Earlier, Johnson expressed that Warner received special treatment and argued against giving him a farewell Test series due to recent form and the Sandpaper scandal.
Warner silenced critics with a remarkable 164 off 211 deliveries on the first day, responding to his detractors, including Mitchell Johnson. Warner’s celebratory gesture, placing his hand to his mouth, seemed like a response to Johnson’s comments.
In a subsequent West Australian column, Johnson maintained that David Warner’s century involved some luck and reiterated the validity of his earlier opinion.
“I think my opinion in this column a couple of weeks ago is still valid. He hadn’t scored runs in about three years apart from the double century last summer.”
“On day one Warner rode his luck early on — and it could have gone either way — and you take that and he went on to make 164. He did what he was paid to do in the first innings before Saturday’s duck in the second innings,” Johnson wrote.
Johnson emphasized that despite David Warner’s denial of the criticism, it motivated the experienced batsman to deliver a standout performance.
“Warner may have denied he cares about criticism of his form, but it definitely does drive him as shown in his performance in the first innings. David Warner’s century on the first day of the Australian Test summer was no great surprise in some ways.”
“There was a big media spotlight on Warner and his form and he seems to be at his most motivated when backed into a corner and he generally saves his best for home soil,” Johnson added.
Warner’s recent century in the ongoing Test against Pakistan was his 26th in Test cricket and the 20th on Australian soil, contributing to Australia’s substantial first-innings total of 487. Prior to this century, the 37-year-old had managed the only three-figure score in 25 Tests since the beginning of 2021.
“He shares similarities in that aspect with Kevin Pietersen”- Mitchell Johnson
Mitchell Johnson observed that David Warner, similar to Kevin Pietersen, excels in crucial moments. Despite Warner’s century not surprising him, Johnson thinks the Australian selectors overlooked the opportunity to test newer options in a comparatively straightforward home series.
“That sort of atmosphere is something Warner revels in and he is a bit like Kevin Pietersen was in that regard.”
”Another point made was that a soft summer like this, with Australia expected to comfortably beat Pakistan and the West Indies, was the perfect time to look at blooding some new players into an ageing team,” wrote Johnson.
He added:
“They could have given some new guys some really good time out in the middle this summer and backed them in. That’s going to be much harder across the next two summers when India and England visit for five-Test series.”
“It seems they’ve got their own plans in place for selection and how they see things. But they are going to be confronted by a changing of the guard at some point soon.”
The home team is poised to take a commanding 1-0 lead in the three-match series against Pakistan. After posting a total of 487, the Australian bowlers limited Pakistan to 271, extending their lead to 386 with a score of 170/4 in the second innings.
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