"Ricky Ponting would've loved the perfect send-off" - Shane Watson reacts to David Warner-Mitchell Johnson saga
Former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson feels David Warner's decision to pre-set a date for his Test retirement was unprecedented. Watson stated that while most players want the "perfect send-off", not many get it because of the team's needs.
In June, before the Ashes 2023, Warner had announced that if he made it through the series and was in the team for the three-Test series against Pakistan, he'd retire after the final Test at his home ground in Sydney.
At the time, the announcement didn't create any stir. However, Mitchell Johnson's latest newspaper column has caused just that. Johnson called Warner "arrogant" and "disrespectful" to Australia, suggesting that he didn't deserve a hero's exit because he never really owned up to the ball-tampering saga of 2018.
Watson, speaking on the Willow Talk Cricket Podcast called Johnson's column "interesting" and averred:
"Dave put a stake in the ground a long way out which hasn't really been done before ... that I can remember for the last 30 years of cricket where someone's said a year out Sydney's my place to finish."
"Because you never know what's going to happen, form alone, whether you're dominating you get that opportunity. ... You need to make sure you're scoring runs. Ricky Ponting would've loved the perfect send-off that he wanted as well and most players do, [but] sometimes you get a tap on the shoulder and you get no choice," Watson added.
Ponting was dropped from ODIs in 2012 as Australia looked to build on towards the 2015 World Cup. Watson was also dropped from the Test team due to poor form after the first Ashes Test in 2015.
Johnson later admitted that his attack at Warner was also due to personal spite because of a "bad" message that the opening batter sent him.
"Meg Lanning didn't get to choose when she wanted to finish up": Alyssa Healy backs Shane Watson
Wicketkeeper-batter Alyssa Healy backed Watson's opinions, saying even the greatest-ever women's captain Meg Lanning didn't get the big farewell when she announced her retirement on November 8. Lanning had taken an indefinite break from cricket in August 2022 to focus on her health.
"You look at Meg Lanning recently, didn't really get to choose when she wanted to finish up, there's obviously other factors at play there but a lot of players don't get that option. So if I am lucky enough to do it, I think you just wake up one day and go 'I don't want to do this anymore', and you go, 'See you later,'" Healy said.
"I wouldn't want that hanging over my head for 12 months, knowing the end is nigh and I've got to make runs to stay in the team, that'd be really uncomfortable," she added.
The Australia-Pakistan Test series begins on December 14.