Australian star fast bowler, Mitchell Johnson has been sacked over a scathing personal attack on former teammate and firey opener David Warner.
The article criticizing David Warner resulted in Mitchell Johnson being stood down from two speaking functions by Cricket Australia.
Australia’s media group, News Corp reports the former left-arm fast bowler for Australia had two guest speaking appearances scheduled for Optus Stadium in Perth as Australia took on Pakistan in the first Test of the summer starting on December 14.
The appearances were canceled due to Cricket Australia’s view that Johnson, 42, had taken his criticisms of Warner, 37, too far in an explosive column for The West Australian in early 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 told News Corp on Tuesday.
READ MORE: The man who should have been playing in Australia retires from all cricket
Aussie great Mike Hussey reportedly replaced Johnson as the guest speaker at the lunch events as Australia rolled Pakistan by 360 runs in the first Test.
Johnson’s role on Triple M was not impacted by the drama surrounding his newspaper column, however, despite the fact he was initially left off the broadcaster’s list of commentators for the summer of cricket.
While the quick Johnson has largely stood by his criticisms of Warner in the days since his newspaper column became the talk of the cricket world, he did express one regret while speaking on his podcast The Mitchell Johnson Cricket Show.
The 313-Test wicket great said he regretted bringing up the sandpaper scandal but stood by his other points including that players shouldn’t get to dictate the terms of their retirement.
Via: News.com.au
