Former Australia opener Ed Cowan has backed Mitchell Johnson’s shocking criticism of David Warner, saying that the veteran Australian batter is a walking wicket in Test cricket. Notably, Cowan opened alongside Warner, playing 18 Tests for Australia, scoring over 1,000 runs at an average of 31.28 in the early 2010s.

Johnson sparked controversy with scathing remarks about Warner ahead of his final Australian Test summer in his column in the West Australian, questioning why the left-handed opener was given a hero’s send-off despite still admitting his role in the infamous 2018 ball-tampering scandal.

“Mitch Johnson is saying what 90 per cent of people in the pub have been thinking. 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 on the Grandstand Cricket Podcast.

Warner has stated his intention to retire from the longer format following the final Test on his home turf in Sydney. While there are no guarantees, the seasoned hitter has been named to the 14-man team for the first Test, which begins on December 14.

Since the summer of 2020-21, Warner has only scored one Test century in 25 matches; that century came in his 100th Test at the MCG in late 2022, when he accumulated a spectacular double-hundred against South Africa. Except for his century against South Africa, he has only two half-centuries in his last 21 Test innings.As the Australian squad prepares for the approaching first Test on Thursday, Cowan provided a frank appraisal of Warner’s recent Test performance, describing the 37-year-old Warner as a “walking wicket” while pitching Marnus Labuschange to open the batting.