Steve Smith dodges Warner-Johnson feud as David Warner’s former opening partner calls him a ‘walking wicket’

Steve Smith has shouldered arms over queries about the fuss Mitchell Johnson has made over David Warner’s swan song, but a former opening partner has said Johnson is ‘saying what 90 per cent of people in the pub are thinking’.

Steve Smith has refused to publicly pick a side in the David Warner-Mitchell Johnson feud after one of Warner’s former Test opening partners described the left-hander as a “walking wicket.”

Johnson will be behind the microphone for Triple M when Australia takes on Pakistan in the first Test of the home summer, beginning on Thursday at Perth’s Optus Stadium.

The pace great created a storm at the start of the month when he penned a stinging column in the West Australian that took aim at veteran opener Warner and Australian selection chair George Bailey.

Among the criticisms of Warner was that he didn’t deserve a hero’s farewell this summer because he had never fully taken ownership of the ball-tampering scandal of 2018.

Warner’s opening partner Usman Khawaja said Warner had “paid his dues” over the episode and that it was unfair for the likes of Johnson to continue dredging up the matter.

Along with Warner and Cameron Bancroft, Smith knows better than anyone about the cost of the sandpaper affair, having been suspended from international cricket for a year and been stripped of the Australian captaincy as punishment for his involvement in the plot.

David Warner batting in the nets ahead of Thursday’s Test against Pakistan, which looks likely to be his third last game. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

Yet given the chance on Tuesday to echo Khawaja’s sentiments that bygones ought be considered bygones, Smith shouldered arms.

“Everyone in the media is entitled to their opinion, but I’m not buying into anything that is going on between any of those two, so I’ll stay out of that one,” Smith said ahead of Australian training.

Smith, Bailey, Johnson and Warner were all members of the Australian sides that whitewashed England in the Ashes 10 summers ago as well as winning the World Cup in 2015.

Despite middling Test performances over much of the past four years, Warner survived the selection cut for this Pakistan series, all but ensuring his safe passage to his flagged Test retirement following the Sydney Test in January.

As speculation continues to rumble around who may replace Warner at the top of the order, Smith joked that he could be a potential replacement before deferring to the selectors.

“I have no idea. I guess there’s plenty of options out there. We’ve seen different guys bat in different positions in different conditions. So yeah, we’ll see which way they want to go. It’s sort of out of my pay grade,” Smith said.

But Smith paid tribute to his long-time teammate.

“I mean, look at his career. It’s been incredible, I think and I think he’s closing in on all-time most runs as an opener. It’s pretty incredible given some of the batters that have gone before him as openers as well. So he’s been he’s been a tremendous player for over a decade,” Smith said.

Former Australian and NSW opener Ed Cowan has backed Mitchell Johnson’s message, if not his tone, around David Warner’s retirement from Test cricket. Picture. Phil Hillyard

Warner’s ex-Test opening partner Ed Cowan said on the Grandstand cricket podcast that Johnson’s points were largely valid.

“He’s saying what 90 per cent of people in the pub have been thinking and probably wondering why aren’t discussed more,” Cowan said.

“What I didn’t love – I feel like he would have made a more pertinent argument – was the tone. There was a sense of anger or injustice to it.

“But the actual points around selection, statistically David Warner probably shouldn’t be in the best XI, I think most people agree with.”

Cowan said the idea of Marnus Labuschagne moving up the order to open when Warner departs had merit.

“With Marnus opening the batting, he’s walking out at one for none anyway. David Warner has been a walking wicket for two years now,” Cowan said.

“At least he knows when he’s going to bat, he can prepare and go out and bat. It’s not a big leap to go from batting at three to opening the batting.”

Originally published as Steve Smith dodges Warner-Johnson feud as David Warner’s former opening partner calls him a ‘walking wicket’