David Warner can play Tests for another year if he continues batting the way he did in Perth, says Ian Healy

Though David Warner has already made public his desire of quitting the Test format at the end of the ongoing series against Pakistan, former Australia wicketkeeper Ian Healy feels the opener can play the five-day format for another year.

Warner starred in Australia 360-run hammering of Pakistan in Perth with a knock of 164 off 211 balls in the first innings. The southpaw, however, has already indicated his desire to bring the curtains down on his Test career later in the series, in the New Year’s fixture against Pakistan at Sydney starting 3 January.

The century, however, has Healy thinking Warner can still add value to the Australian Test team and that he doesn’t have to part ways in the first week of the following year.

“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.”

The southpaw, who has 8,651 runs to his credit in 110 Test appearances, will continue representing Australia in white-ball cricket and ply his trade as well as T20 leagues such as the Indian Premier League.

With PTI inputs