Former Australia cricketer Ian Healy reckoned that David Warner was not good enough in the third Test at Headingley but he still wants the 36-year-old veteran to open alongside Usman Khawaja in the fourth Test in Manchester, starting from July 19.
Warner was dismissed for just 4 in the first innings and 1 in the second innings, caught by Zak Crawley in the slips off the bowling of his arch nemesis Stuart Broad on both occasions as Australia lost the Headingley Test to England.
“What he put out at Headingley wasn’t good enough. His technique recently had been much better, head over the ball, but it all disappeared at Headingley,” Healy said on SENQ Breakfast.
“He was jumping around, he was unstable at the crease and he was distracted by the crowd. It wasn’t good enough and we need better because he’s putting Marnus (Labuschagne) and Steve Smith under way too much pressure.
“Marnus has been like an opener, and he spends a lot of energy getting to 20 and 30, then he’s getting himself out too,” he said.
Healy expressed his preference for not introducing Matt Renshaw or Marcus Harris as replacements for Warner in the opening position during the intense Ashes series and believes that Warner must keep his spot in Pat Cummins’ side.
“I don’t want to throw a newbie, whether it be Marcus or R’enners’, into that team in that Ashes furnace,” he added.
“David Warner is in with the team that has got to get this Ashes done.”
Warner’s performance in the ongoing Ashes series has been underwhelming, with only one fifty-plus score to his name. In his six innings thus far, he has recorded scores of 9, 36, 66, 25, 4, and 1.
Former Australian fast bowler, Damien Fleming too hesitantly supports keeping Warner in the top order of the playing XI despite his poor form.
“My gut-feel with Dave is he always had a two-Test buffer. So he can fail in one Test, but if he fails in two he’s gone. He’s been pretty good up until Headingley. His batting at Lord’s was actually sensational. He and Usman on that first morning, we could have been four or five down at the first session. But we’re 2-1 up and have to win,” Fleming said.
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