'Don't think Australian public realise his importance': Lyon puts up passionate defence of Warner after Johnson saga
Nathan Lyon said that he is looking forward to seeing what David Warner will do in Australia's upcoming Test series against Pakistan.
David Warner's name has been in the news in the run-up to Australia's Test series against Pakistan which starts on Thursday. The 37-year-old's selection was handed a rather scathing criticism by his former Australia teammate Mitchell Johnson with the latter questioning questioned why Warner has the authority to choose his retirement date despite his form with the bat in Tests. Johnson also said that he doesn't think Warner has "never really owned the ball-tampering scandal" in 2018.
Johnson's statement was met with a significant amount of backlash from the Australian camp and now, veteran spinner Nathan Lyon has backed Warner to do well in the upcoming series. “Knowing David for the last 13-14 years, when he seems to be backed into a corner he seems to play his best cricket, so I am backing him. I don't think the Australian public realise the importance of David over the last 13 years or however long it is (that he has played),” Lyon told reporters.
“I think I have played over 100 Test matches with David and to see what he has been able to do for Australia is quite amazing so, I am looking forward to see him come out here, that is for sure.” Johnson later revealed that he received a "pretty bad" text message from Warner earlier this year, which prompted him to criticise Australia's Test opener in his column.
Earlier, star all-rounder Glenn Maxwell said that Warner is an ‘absolute champion’ of the Australian team. “I’m not going to throw my name into some headlines about this. But Davey’s been an absolute champion of Australian cricket for a long period of time and the selectors were pretty clear on what they thought of it (selecting him). I’m looking forward to seeing Davey in that first Test and him making a lot of runs this summer,” Maxwell said.
