“And that’s that’s Davey. You don’t see him away from the camera. You see him on the field,but what he is off the field is just a pure family man,very giving,one of the most caring people,and also a great personality with a lot of insight of the game.”

Earlier,captain Pat Cummins strongly supported Warner against the criticism of their former teammate in his West Australian newspaper column last weekend.

“I certainly don’t agree with what he[Johnson] said. But everyone’s entitled to their opinions,” Cummins said at the launch. “Dave is great. I’ve spoken to him a lot over the last couple of weeks. Dave’s awesome.”

Cummins denied that the criticism would give Warner extra motivation.

“I think Dave is pretty good at firing himself up at any moment,” Cummins said. “It’s going to be his last three Test matches. He’s going to get the best out of himself. He’s faced criticism his whole career and keeps showing time and time again his class,and I’m sure this summer will be no different.

“I think we protect each other a lot. We’ve been through a lot over the years. We’ve played alongside someone like Davey or Steve[Smith]. I’ve played with them for a dozen years now. So we’re fiercely protective of each other.

“I think sometimes you’ve got to remind yourself of the amount of positive support that’s out there. You play with hundreds and hundreds of people over our careers and most of the time,everyone’s fantastic.”

Last February,Johnson called Cummins “gutless” for his role in the messy departure of coach Justin Langer. Cummins was unable to say why Johnson has been so strident in his criticisms.

“You’d have to ask Mitch,” Cummins said. But there’s so many wonderful things that we should be celebrating about Australian cricket at the moment. The men’s and women’s team we’ve had arguably our most successful year ever.”

Warner’s indifferent Test form has prompted constant criticism. He has averaged under 30 in five of his past six series,with only one century in the last nine,but he was Australia’s leading run-scorer during their recent one-day World Cup triumph.

Johnson accused Warner of “arrogance and disrespect” for nominating the Sydney Test as the match in which he would like to retire. He also took exception to a text sent to him by chairman of selectors George Bailey after he criticised the resting of West Australian fast bowler Lance Morris from a Sheffield Shield match. Morris is returning from back stress fractures.

Cummins ‘open’ to Marsh as Test opener

Pat Cummins has given qualified support to free-scoring allrounder Mitchell Marsh opening the batting once David Warner retires.

“It’s a possibility,” Cummins said during a Fox Sports and Kayo cricket launch in Parramatta on Friday. “You’re open to anything really.

“We’ve seen himmake that shift in white ball cricket,put the pressure back on the opening bowlers and hit them off their lengths. You never say never,but I thought what he did down at No.6 in the Ashes was pretty impressive.”

After a four-year absence from Test cricket,Marsh,32,played the last three Tests in England this year,scoring a century and a half-century to top the tour averages with 50.

He has regularly batted in the top three in 50-over and Twenty20 and was the second-highest run scorer for Australia in the recent triumphant World Cup campaign with 441 at an average of 49,making two centuries and a half-century. Warner,37,was Australia’s leading run scorer with 535 at 49 including two centuries and two half-centuries.

Coach Andrew McDonald recently floated the possibility of Marnus Labuschagne moving up to open the battingwhen Warner finished at the Sydney Test. This would allow Marsh and the allrounder he replaced,Cameron Green,to play in the same Test side.

However,Cummins was not keen on shuffling the batting order,particularly with Labuschagne adding such stability at No.3.

“It’s a tough one,” Cummins said. “No batter ever owns a position,but you want to try and pick your team that’s going to function the best and Marnus at No.3 has been impressive.

“So you got to make a pretty compelling case to move some of the highest performing players out of that position,I think.”

Moving Marsh to the top of the batting order during the post Warner era was firstfloated by former captain Greg Chappell in this masthead last week.

“We have a storied history of selecting aggressive openers to get us off to positive starts,” Chappell wrote. “In the past 50 years,Keith Stackpole,Michael Slater,Matthew Hayden and Warner have performed that role admirably and given Australia a distinct advantage.”

Chappell claimed that Cameron Bancroft,Matt Renshaw,Marcus Harris and Will Pucovski played a similar style of game to Usman Khawaja,who has been Australia’s anchorman,facing 2041 balls this year,the most of any batsman in the world. Labuschagne is second with 1645. Both have a strike rate of 43 in 2023.

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