For the ones who thought Australia opener David Warner had done enough to silence critic Mitchell Johnson, after slamming his 26th Test ton against Pakistan in the Perth Test, think again. The former fast bowler has opened up on the southpaw’s recent ton, and if his opinion on Warner has changed.
In a column for the West Australian, Johnson also spoke about how Warner thrives under such situations. “On day one of the first Test against Pakistan Warner rode his luck early on — and it could have gone either way — and you take that and he went on to make 164,” Johnson wrote for the West Australian.
“He did what he was paid to do in the first innings before Saturday’s duck in the second innings.
“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. That sort of atmosphere is something Warner revels in.”
But then Johnson clearly mentions in his column that his opinion for Warner is still ‘valid’. “I think my opinion in this column a couple of weeks ago is still valid,” Johnson said. “He hadn’t scored runs in about three years apart from the double century last summer.
“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 aging team.
“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.”
