Former Australia fast bowler Mitchell Johnson has launched a fresh attack on David Warner, despite the batter’s tremendous 164 in the first innings of the opening Test match in Perth. Mitchell Johnson’s latest comments come in the backdrop of the two cricketers’ ongoing feud during the first series of the Australian summer.
Johnson and Warner were up in arms against each other ahead of the first Test match, after Johnson had written a scathing column criticising Cricket Australia for allowing Warner to choose his farewell Test match.
On his column with the West Australian, written after Australia’s second innings where Warner fell for a duck, Johnson said that Warner rode on his luck in the first innings.
“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,” Johnson said on Day 3 of the Test match.
The former fast bowler, known for his fierce pace in the field, Johnson agreed that Warner’s plays his best cricket when backed into a corner.
“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,” Johnson wrote.
“That sort of atmosphere is something Warner revels in,” he further added.
Warner’s innings allowed Australia to post a mammoth total of 487, before the increased that in the second innings. Australia posted a target of 450 runs for Pakistan on Day four and picked up quick wickets in the lunch session. At the time of writing, Pakistan were 53/4 and needed 397 runs to win at the Optus Stadium in Perth.
