“Outstanding” Warner can play Test cricket for another year, feels Ian Healy

PTI, Dec 18, 2023, 11:57 AM IST

David Warner can continue playing Test cricket for another year if he continues his imperious form displayed against Pakistan in the just concluded first Test in Perth, former Australia wicketkeeper Ian Healy said.

The 37-year-old, who scored a match winning 164 off 211 ball in the first innings against Pakistan in the opening Test, which Australia won by 360 runs, is playing his swansong series as he is likely to bid adieu to the longest format of the game after the third Test in Sydney in his home ground.

”What I love about him is his durability. We all know how fit he must be because he’s maintained his pace between wickets. I just love the way that he kept going and his feet moved,” Healy said on SEN Radio.

”This is the bit I agree about Mitchell Johnson and what he said about, ‘Why have a swansong, your last three years hasn’t been very good and now you’re picking the way you can retire’.

”But if he bats like that, he can go another year for mine (me) until he doesn’t want to play anymore.That’s what he’s been missing in Test cricket, that footwork, balance and real bat speed when he needed it,” he added.

Given his recent poor run in Test cricket, Warner faced a lot of criticism for publicly announcing he hopes to finish his Test career after this series in Sydney by former teammate Mitchell Johnson.

Johnson felt that the series against Pakistan should have been used to pick Warner’s successor.

However, Healy feels the southpaw’s century in difficult conditions won Australia the match in Perth.

”That 160 he made in the first innings won us a Test in Perth. It wasn’t easy. I looked at it from afar on Thursday afternoon and I said, ‘Oh, jeez, I wouldn’t like to be Pakistan’, they are going to feel about a foot shorter than they actually are tomorrow afternoon not knowing how difficult the conditions were.

”Maybe Pakistan missed the trick in the first session (on Day 1), bowling too short, but I don’t know of anyone else that can make 160 that quick in tough conditions.

”I like the way Michael Slater made tough second innings batting conditions look. Mark Waugh could also make a mockery out of tough conditions, but David Warner was outstanding.”