Former Australia teammates David Warner and Mitchell Johnson are currently embroiled in a bitter controversy. Johnson wrote in his column that the selection of Warner for the Test series against Pakistan was because of the reason that he was retiring after the series and not because of his form. The former Australia pacer also insisted that chief selector George Bailey was too close to the players and that was affecting his selection process. Following the controversy, the two former teammates were going to come face-to-face during the first Test in Pakistan but it looks like that is not going to happen anymore.
Earlier, Johnson said that he would be part of the Triple M commentary team for the Test series. However, the confirmed list of commentators released by the company on Tuesday did not include his name. It had names of legends like Merv Hughes, Wasim Akram, and Mark Taylor.
Two days after he attacked former teammate and current Australia opener David Warner, former pacer Mitchell Johnson revealed the reason behind his tirade.
Johnson, who lashed out at the Aussie opener, while also reigniting the ball-tampering controversy, claimed that Warner doesn’t deserve a “hero’s sendoff” referring to the Pakistan series being his last.
The 42-year-old had also taken shots at Australia chief selector Geroge Bailey for persisting with Warner despite his poor outings recently.
Johnson revealed that Warner texted him earlier this year after he wrote a column on the southpaw’s wife, Candice, defending her husband’s place in the team.
While he did not divulge much into the details of Warner’s “quite personal” text message, Johnson admitted that it was one of reasons, along with the ball-tampering scandal, behind his column of the West Australian.
“I got a message from Dave, which was quite personal. I tried to ring to try and talk to him about it, which I’ve always been open to. I know I’ve been open to the guys when I finished playing. I said if I’m in the media and writing things or saying things that you don’t like, just come and speak to me,” the former Australia pacer said on The Mitchell Johnson Cricket Show.
“It was never a personal thing then until this point. This is probably what drove me to write the article as well, part of it. It was definitely a factor. Some of the stuff that was said in that, I won’t say it. I think that’s up to Dave to say it if he wants to talk about it. There was some stuff in there that was extremely disappointing, what he said, and pretty bad to be honest,” he added.
