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Former pacer Mitchell Johnson took a dig at Cricket Australia (CA) for inviting him to an award night just weeks after the governing body cancelled his speaking engagements.
Ahead of the ongoing two-match Test series between Australia and Pakistan, Johnson wrote a critical article on veteran opener David Warner in The West Australian, questioning why Warner had the authority to choose his retirement date despite his terrible form with the bat in Tests and accusing him of not owning up to his role in the ball-tampering scandal. As Sydney Morning Herald reported, due to his article CA cancelled two of the former fast bowler's guest speaking jobs during the first Test in Perth. The speedster on Friday took to social media Instagram and lashed out at Cricket Australia for inviting him to the 2024 Australian Cricket Awards. "Is Cricket Australia serious??," Johnson wrote on Instagram, including a screenshot of his invite. "Last week I was cancelled from 2 speaking engagements. This week I'm invited to celebrate with them," Johnson signed it off with three laughing emojis. To make sure that players wouldn't be offended by their former teammate turned writer appearing at an official gathering hosted by their employer, CA asked Johnson to withdraw from speaking at two official engagements during the Perth Test, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. "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 spokesperson was quoted as saying by Sydney Morning Herald. After the heavy criticism, Warner hushed all doubters about his form in Test cricket on the opening day of the first Test against Pakistan, slamming a typically explosive 164 off 211 balls in a spectacular start to his farewell series. Later, Johnson revealed that he received a "pretty bad" text message from his ex-teammate David Warner earlier this year, which prompted him to criticise Australia's Test opener in his column, and he also branded selectors chairman George Bailey's answer "quite disgusting." "I got a message from Dave, which was quite personal. 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," Johnson was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. Warner said that Johnson is entitled to his opinion and refused to add fuel to the fire. "Mitch is entitled to his opinion. He's a former player. You saw Justin Langer's comments. He said he's entitled to it. You can go back to Justin Langer's comments and refer to them and so be it," Warner said. (ANI)
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