The former fast bowler Mitchell Johnson was removed from the cricket broadcast in Australia after heavily criticizing former Test player David Warner. During the Perth Test against Pakistan, News Corp and Code Sport reported that Johnson was initially slated to make comments during the midday breaks of two programs but was removed from the Australian cricket broadcast team. Johnson had made comments about Warner’s criticism, but it led to his exclusion from the Australian cricket setup. Johnson’s column, where he criticized Warner, was somewhat controversial.
Warner had announced that he would retire after the series against Pakistan. However, others have suggested that Warner doesn’t have the sole right to retire like that, as stated in a column by Johnson’s former teammate. Even before Johnson, several former Australian cricketers had made similar remarks. The cricket community has turned against Warner this time. One Australian cricket figure told the media, “Mitchell is one of Australia’s most celebrated fast bowlers, but in this case, we feel that being a guest speaker is not in everyone’s best interest for the CA (Cricket Australia) event.”
In place of Johnson, another former cricketer, Michael Hussey, was brought in as a speaker for the event.
Even though Johnson’s column criticized Warner, he wasn’t initially on the list for Triple M radio commentators. Although he did commentary during the first Test, when Warner scored a century, Johnson wasn’t part of the radio commentary. After the century, Warner hinted at “silencing” the critics, possibly referring to commentators like Johnson.
However, despite Warner’s performance, Johnson didn’t back down from his perspective, stating only one thing in his podcast. In 2017, Warner was banned from Cricket Australia for his involvement in the ball-tampering scandal. Johnson had mentioned that incident in his column as well.
Former Australian pace bowler Johnson, who has taken 313 Test wickets for Australia, stated in his podcast, “I wasn’t happy about one thing. I hadn’t thought about it at that time. I was reading the part about ‘sandpaper,’ it seemed a bit too much. Maybe it shouldn’t have been said.”
He added, “However, it’s out there. Because I don’t look at statistics. I look at the bigger picture. I have tried to dig up old things, not to find faults, but what they (ball-tampering) did, even after being in that situation, no one should say goodbye like that. That didn’t seem appropriate to me, and that’s why I said it.”
Australia will play the second Test against Pakistan on Boxing Day, December 26th. In Perth, they secured a victory against Pakistan with a lead of 360 runs, maintaining a long winning streak against Pakistan.
