Australia thrashed Pakistan by a massive margin of 360 runs in the First test at Perth. The chief architect of this victory was swashbuckling left handed pocket sized dynamo David Warner. Survived with a drop chance earlier in his innings, David Warner scored a magnificent 164 runs of mere 211 balls to give Australia a huge advantage in the test match on Day 1 itself. His innings ensured that Australia mount huge runs in the first innings and then Pakistan team is pushed on to the backfoot on Day 1 itself.
This was David Warner’s 26th century in his test career. The comprised of 16 fours and 4 sixes. Such was the clarity and authority of this knock that in the process Warner surpassed the likes of Matthew Hayden and Michael Clarke in the list of highest run getters for Australia in tests only to be behind the likes of Ricky Ponting, Allan Border, Steve Waugh and Steve Smith.
What stood more interesting and created quite a stir was Warner’s style of celebration after the completion of the century. Warner having the knack of trademark celebrations like the recently famous Pushpa style celebration in the recently concluded World Cup, took off his stride and then opened up his trademark celebration with a Jump before making a small gesture of nice little shush towards the camera.
This celebration caused quite a buzz in the media as it was reported to be be fitting reply to the likes of Mitchell Johnson who before the start of the series which is David Warner’s last series as a test cricketer doubted Warner’s ability to perform.
David Warner didn’t score runs for 3 years- Mitchell Johnson
Former Australian speedster Mitchell Johnson claimed that David Warner didn’t do anything out of the ordinary after scoring a sensational 164 against Pakistan in the first Test in Perth.
The two Aussies have been in the news ever since Johnson wrote an explosive column for the West Australian, questioning whether Warner deserved a farewell Test because of his involvement in the Sandpaper gate scandal.
Mitchell Johnson once again took to his column for the West Australian and indirectly claimed that David Warner was a bit lucky to not get dismissed early on in the first innings. He wrote:
“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. He did what he was paid to do in the first innings before Saturday’s duck in the second innings.”
Mitchell Johnson further wrote about why he felt he was right to question David Warner getting the farewell Test ahead of the series. He felt that with Tests against Pakistan and West Indies, Australia had a chance to look at some fresh faces in their potential Test rebuild.
On this, Johnson explained:
“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. 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,”
“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.” he added.
Australia thumped Pakistan by a massive margin of 360 runs in the first Test in Perth and Warner’s hundred has all but ensured that he would get the farewell game he desired.