Cricket Australia Terminates Mitchell Johnson’s Contract Following Controversial Column Targeting David Warner
In his latest column, Johnson reiterated that he largely stood with what he wrote in his previous article.
In a surprising turn of events, Cricket Australia has removed former Australian bowler Mitchell Johnson from participating in two public events.
According to News Corp, Cricket Australia has intervened to stop Mitchell Johnson from delivering two guest speaking appearances slated for Perth Stadium during the Pakistan-Australia Test series. This decision follows Johnson’s outspoken column in which he raised doubts about David Warner’s position in the Test team and questioned why Warner is receiving a “hero’s send-off” despite his involvement in the “sandpaper gate” ball-tampering incident in South Africa in 2018.
The Cricket Australia spokesperson informed News Corp on December 19 that while Mitchell is indeed one of Australia’s most renowned bowlers, for this particular event, it was deemed beneficial for everyone involved that he not assume the role of the guest speaker at CA functions.
Former Australian cricketer Michael Hussey was purportedly enlisted as a substitute for Johnson.
Johnson provided commentary for the game on Triple M radio, despite initial speculation suggesting that he might have been replaced. His name was notably absent from the initial roster of commentators released by the radio channel. Nevertheless, he did ultimately participate in the commentary for the event.
Following the controversy surrounding his column, Johnson addressed his regrets regarding the piece during an episode of his podcast, “The Mitchell Johnson Show.”
“There was one aspect I wasn’t entirely pleased with,” Johnson admitted. “I didn’t pick up on it initially; I was reading through the article and just went along with it. The references to ‘Bunnings’ and ‘sandpaper’ might have been a bit distasteful. In hindsight, that probably wasn’t necessary. The reason the ‘sandpaper scandal’ was brought up is that I tend to look beyond statistics and consider the overall context. I’m not attempting to dredge up past controversies, but the farewell and the position he was in, coupled with the events from back then, didn’t sit quite right with me. That’s why I mentioned it.”
In his most recent column, Johnson reaffirmed his alignment with the content of his earlier article.
“He fulfilled his professional duties admirably in the first innings but faced disappointment with a duck in the second innings on Saturday. My stance from a few weeks ago, as expressed in this column, remains unchanged,” Johnson wrote. “For nearly three years, his run-scoring had been sparse, except for the notable double century last summer. Furthermore, I emphasized that in a mild season like this, with Australia anticipated to easily triumph over Pakistan and the West Indies, it presented an ideal opportunity to introduce fresh talent into an aging team.”
“They had the opportunity to provide valuable playing time to emerging players this summer and nurture their potential. However, this task will become more challenging over the next two summers with the arrival of India and England for five-Test series.”
FOLLOW US :
Instagram :- instagram/allnationalnews
YouTube :- youtube/@allnationalnews
Facebook :- All National News
