Austra\u00adlia batsman Usman Khawaja has mounted a spirited defence of his opening partner David Warner after former team-mate Mitchell Johnson questioned his place in the Test squad and said he had not taken full responsibility for the 2018 ball-tampering scandal. Warner was named in a 14-man squad for the series-opener against Pakistan despite a poor run of red-ball form and has made no secret of his hopes to bow out of the longest format after the third Test at his home Sydney Cricket Ground. The decision to keep faith with Warner provoked a strong response from Johnson, who wrote in a column that the 37-year-old opener did not deserve his place in the side based on form, or warrant a \u201chero\u2019s send-off\u201d because he had \u201cnever really owned\u201d his part in the Newlands ball-tampering scandal. \u201cCan somebody please tell me why?\u201d he wrote in The West Australian newspaper at the weekend, also bringing up Warner\u2019s central role in the notorious \u201cSandpaper-gate\u201d scandal. Khawaja disagreed with Johnson\u2019s view, saying Warner and former captain Steve Smith had done plenty for Australian cricket and their 12-month bans for \u2018Sandpaper-gate\u2019 were punishment enough. \u201cDavey Warner and Smith are heroes in my mind,\u201d Khawaja told reporters on Monday. \u201cThey missed a year of cricket through dark times. No one\u2019s perfect. Mitchell Johnson\u2019s not perfect, I\u2019m not perfect, Steven Smith isn\u2019t perfect, David Warner isn\u2019t perfect. \u201cWhat they have done for the game how they have grown the game far outweighs anything else they have done. \u201cSo for [Johnson] to imply that Davey Warner or anyone else involved in sandpaper (gate) is not a hero \u2026 I strongly disagree because they have paid their dues. A year out of cricket is a long time.\u201d Former fast bowler Johnson\u2019s column triggered a fierce reaction in Australian media on Monday and criticism from some local sports pundits. Former Test captain Tim Paine, however, said Johnson had made some \u201cgreat points\u201d about Warner\u2019s form. \u201cDavid hasn\u2019t been playing well and would other people be getting the run he\u2019s getting now? Probably not,\u201d Paine said on radio station SEN. \u201cBut in my opinion, he\u2019s got credits in the bank because he is one of the all-time greats. I think you can read between the lines that Johnson and Davey don\u2019t get along.\u201d The first Test against Pakistan in Perth starts on December 14, before the traditional Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, then Sydney, beginning January 3. Warner was in scintillating form at the recent 50-over World Cup, but he has scored just one Test century since early 2020 and averages only 28 since the 2019-2020 summer in Australia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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