AUS vs PAK: Mitchell Johnson Loses Cricket Australia's Gig After Launching Scathing Attack On David Warner

Mitchell Johnson’s scathing attack on veteran opener David Warner resulted in him being taken off from two speaking functions by Cricket Australia. According to reports, the former Australian left-arm pacer had two guest speaking appearances scheduled for Optus Stadium in Perth where Australia took on Pakistan in the first Test of a three-match series starting on December 14.

The appearances were canceled due to Cricket Australia’s view that the 42-year-0ld had taken his criticisms of Warner too far in an explosive column early on in December. “Mitchell is one of Australia’s most celebrated bowlers, but we felt on this occasion it was in everyone’s best interests that he was not the guest speaker at the CA functions,’’ a CA spokesman said on Tuesday.

Former Australian batter Mike Hussey reportedly replaced Johnson as the guest speaker at the lunch events. Australia thumped Pakistan by 360 runs in the first Test at Perth. However, Mitchell Johnson’s role on Triple M was not impacted by his explosive newspaper column despite the fact he was initially left off the broadcaster’s list of commentators.

While Mitchell Johnson has defended his criticisms of David Warner in the days since his newspaper column became the talk of the town, he did express one regret. Speaking on his podcast The Mitchell Johnson Cricket Show, Johnson said that he regretted bringing up the sandpaper scandal. However, he explained the reason for bringing the sandpaper scandal and stood by his other points including that players shouldn’t get to dictate the terms of their retirement.

Mitchell Johnson Regrets Bringing Up The ‘Sandpapergate’ Scandal

“There is one thing I wasn’t that happy with,” Johnson said. “I didn’t notice it at the time. I was reading the article and just sort of went with it. The “Bunnings” and the “sandpaper” part of it. Probably distasteful. That was probably something that didn’t need to be said.”

“The reason that (the sandpaper scandal) came up is that I just don’t look at statistics. I look at the whole picture. And I’m not trying to bring up those old things but someone to get a farewell and to be in that position that he was and what they did back then, that didn’t quite sit right with me, that’s why I brought it up,’’ he said on his podcast.

David Warner played a stunning knock of 164 runs facing 211 deliveries. He struck 16 boundaries and four maximums in the innings. David Warner celebrated his innings by doing a ‘shush’ expression in front of the media house of the Optus stadium in Perth. He also revealed that his celebration was for anyone who wanted to make headlines by talking about him. Mitchell Johnson said that his innings reminded him of Kevin Pietersen.

Australia and Pakistan will now face each other in Melbourne for the ‘Boxing Day’ Test. The World Test Champions are already in the lead with 1-0 in the series. David Warner will play his last game in red-ball cricket in this series which will be played in Sydney after the New Year celebrations.