‘Mitchell Johnson’s not perfect’: Ex-Aus pacer’s extraordinary attack on Warner triggers teammate, former captains
Mitchell Johnson’s brutal take on David Warner’s position in the Test squad has triggered a fierce reaction from a few ex and active Australia cricketers. Johnson was highly critical of Warner’s “hero send-off”, also reigning the already doused Newlands ball-tampering scandal in his latest column for The West Australian.
File photo of Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, David Warner and Nathan Lyon(Reuters)
Warner, who is part of Australia’s squad for the three Test against Pakistan, will make his final red ball appearance in the third Test at his home Sydney Cricket Ground. However, Johnson strongly believes that the opener doesn’t deserve a spot in the squad, citing his form, or warrant a “hero’s send-off” for he “never really owned” his part in the infamous Sandpaper-gate incident back in 2018.
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Australia’s 2015 World Cup-winning skipper Michael Clarke speaking on Big Sports’ Breakfast felt there could be a possible beef between the two, which led to such strong opinion. Reminiscing his playing days, Clarke added that the two have strong characters and “went hard each other at nets.” He, however, is not the right person to claim that if they had a beef while playing together.
“Yeah (that’s why I wonder if) maybe I’ve missed something here … Mitch hasn’t played for years now so maybe there is a beef, I don’t know. When you’re in a role like this … if you have an opinion and it’s based on what’s best for the team, or your experience, then go with that. But it should never be personal. I try not to make it personal and if it comes across that way you try and apologise for that because you don’t want that.”
“In every sporting team. Not everybody gets on. Not everyone is best friends. Dave is a strong character, Mitch is a strong character, (they) went hard at each other in the nets. I saw that but I couldn’t sit here and say they had beef against one another when we played.”
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Former Australia Test skipper Tim Paine felt that the two didn’t really got along. “I think if you read between the lines, him and Davey Warner clearly don’t get along.
“So it’s a bit easier for him to fire a few shots at him. They’re just different people. I have nothing to shed on that. They’re just different. I’m only reading between the lines. Just reading that tells me that they probably don’t get along. But again some of his points about his (Warner’s) stats and his position in the team and him getting a little bit of extra time were probably ruined by the personal nature of it.
“And bringing sandpaper back into it. And saying David being a person who used his leadership role for power. I played with David and he certainly didn’t do that,” Paine told SEN.
Meanwhile, Warner’s current opening partner Usman Khawaja also came into the defence of the former. Khawaja disagreed with Johnson’s view and said that both Warner and former captain Steve Smith had done plenty for Australian cricket and their 12-month bans for ‘Sandpaper-gate’ were punishment enough.
“Warner and Smith are heroes in my mind,” Khawaja was quoted as saying by Reuters in a report on Monday.
“They missed a year of cricket through dark times. No one’s perfect. Mitchell Johnson’s not perfect.
“What they have done for the game – how they have grown the game – far outweighs anything else they have done. “To say Dave Warner or anyone else involved in sandpaper (gate) is not a hero … I strongly disagree because they have paid their dues. A year out of cricket is a long time.”
