Warner impersonated cop in SA, book reveals

[FearLess]

Cape Town - In his autobiography, Resilient, former Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson recalls how opening batsman David Warner once posed as a South African police officer on their 2011 tour.

The incident occurred during the ODI series between the Proteas and South Africa, with the final and deciding match of the series at Kingsmead.

According to Johnson, Warner asked their police escorts for their badge and confronted two people on a motorcycle in Durban, while the team were waiting on their meals at a fast food restaurant.

He demanded the two on the motorcycle to show their license by flashing the borrowed badge, and at the end the two took the confrontation very lightly by laughing at the Australian trying to pose as a South African cop.

While revealing the incident, Johnson also makes an ignorant assumption about South Africa in his autobiography by saying “you get shot for looking sideways” and says that “everyone has a gun”.

Here is an excerpt from Mitchell Johnson’s autobiography, Resilient, as reported by the Fox Sports Australia website:

“Everyone was in pretty high spirits and Davey Warner noticed a motorbike waiting behind us with two people on it.

“He asked this policeman if he could borrow his badge and jumped out of the car to front them.

“It was totally crazy and could have gone really wrong. Over there, you can get shot for looking sideways; everyone has a gun.

“Davey demanded to see their licences and flashed them his badge. They were confused for a while about this Australian passing himself off as a copper, but fortunately they thought it was funny and laughed instead of getting angry.

“Davey was a bit wilder in those days than he is now.”

Australia went on to win the ODI match in Durban by three wickets and claimed the series 2-1.