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Mitchell Johnson labelled chairman of selectors George
Bailey’s response “quite disgusting” and claims he received a
“pretty bad” text message from David Warner earlier in the year,
which partially inspired him to criticise Australia’s Test opener in his
column.
When Johnson wrote a piece in the West Australian
questioning why Warner was receiving a hero’s send-off in Test cricket despite
his poor form and whether chair of selectors Bailey was too close to the
players, it ignited an extraordinary public slanging match between the former
Australia teammates.
At a press conference following the announcement of
Australia’s Test team for the opening Test against Pakistan on Sunday, Bailey
was asked to comment on Johnson’s piece. He responded, “I hope he’s
okay.”
Warner has not publicly responded, but his manager
James Erskine stated on SEN radio on Monday that while Johnson had the right to
voice his thoughts, he found it “a bit sad” that former cricket
players were condemning the current players.
While a number of former Australian players and
coaches had commented on the controversy in various media outlets, Usman
Khawaja stood up for Warner and labelled Johnson’s criticism of Bailey as
“harsh”.
After writing an article in which he questioned both
Warner’s form and Candice Warner’s public defence of her husband’s Test spot on
a Fox Sports television show The Back Page, Johnson went on to discuss his
attack on Warner on his podcast, The Mitchell Johnson Cricket Show, which is
hosted by journalist Bharat Sundaresan, on Tuesday. Johnson claimed that the
text message he received in April served as the basis for his attack.
“I got a message from Dave, which was quite
personal,” Johnson said. “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.”
Johnson continued by saying that part of the reason
for his attack on Bailey had been an overnight text message he received from
Australia’s chairman of selectors following a recent article in which he had
questioned why Lance Morris, a quick for Western Australia, had been left out
of a Sheffield Shield match in order to manage his workload ahead of the Test
summer.
Johnson was also furious at Bailey’s response to his
article on Sunday, which he interpreted as a reference at his mental health.
“To ask if I’m okay because I’ve had mental
health issues is pretty much downplaying my article and putting it on mental
health, which is quite disgusting, I think,” Johnson said.
“It’s basically having a dig at someone’s mental
health and saying that I must have something going on, a mental health issue
has made me say what I have said. That’s not the truth. That’s completely the
opposite. I’m actually clear-minded.