‘I got a message from David’ – Mitchell Johnson gives reason for attacking David Warner in his recent column
Mitchell Johnson recently attacked David Warner and began a verbal war as he shed light once again on David Warner’s ball tampering incident. In his column for the western Australian, Mitchell Johnson criticised Warner for getting a hero’s goodbye during his farewell series against Pakistan, despite he never owned up to his mistake of tampering during the test series against South Africa in 2017.
After being criticised by George Bailey and Usman Khwaja, Johnson was prompted to clarify his statements to the public and known for his official podcast he highlighted that he got a personal and demanding message from David Warner and his his wife and could not get the opportunity to have a proper conversation as there was no response from the other end. He also said that things went personal between the two until now.
He said, “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.”
“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”, added Johnson.
Mitchell Johnson on David Warner’s Ball Tampering scandal
“It’s been five years, and David Warner has still never really owned the ball-tampering scandal. Now the way he is going out is underpinned by more of the same arrogance and disrespect to our country,” Johnson previously wrote in his columns.
“As we prepare for David Warner’s farewell series, can somebody please tell me why? Why a struggling Test opener gets to nominate his own retirement date And why does a player at the centre of one of the biggest scandals in Australian cricket history warrant a hero’s send-off?” He added.
Johnson further wrote, “Warner certainly isn’t Australia’s Test captain and never deserved to be, for that matter. In fact, he ended his career under a lifetime leadership ban. Yes, he has a decent overall record, and some say he is one of our greatest opening bats. But his past three years in Test cricket have been ordinary, with a batting average closer to what a tail-ender would be happy with.”
