Mitchell Johnson’s name has been curiously omitted from a list of radio cricket commentators on which he had already flagged his inclusion.
The Aussie Test great re-sparked the fuse he lit in an explosive newspaper article taking aim at David Warner’s retirement plans and George Bailey’s decision to select him, backing over the comments in his self-titled podcast days later.
He received a barrage of blowback over the inflammatory column, but insisted he was OK with it and that he would be fronting up to call the Aussies’ first Test against Pakistan next week where he could cross paths with Warner or Bailey.
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“I’m all good. I will be doing some commentary for Triple M in the first Test. We’ll see what happens there,” Johnson said on his podcast alongside cricket journalist Bharat Sundaresan.
But when Triple M confirmed its lineup for the first Test of the summer, Johnson’s name was not included.
A statement said: “The commentary line up will be led by former Australian captain Mark Taylor AO with James Brayshaw, Mark Howard, Dan Ginnane, Gus Worland and Chris Dittmar, along with Australian cricketers Merv Hughes, Greg Blewett, Mark Waugh AM, Brad Haddin, Callum Ferguson, Aaron Finch and Darren Lehmann and international cricket stars Lord Ian Botham OBE, Brian Lara and Wasim Akram. Completing the call team is sports all-rounder Jack Heverin and statistician Ethan Meldrum.”
In his honest and aggressive article, Johnson called into question the swan song that has been billed for a “struggling opener”, with Warner having declared almost a year out that he would ideally like to retire from Test cricket on home turf at the SCG against Pakistan in January.
He also opened old wounds that remain from sandpapergate, accusing Warner of never having taken full responsibility for the scandal.
“As we prepare for David Warner’s farewell series, can somebody please tell me why?” Johnson wrote.
“Why a struggling Test opener gets to nominate his own retirement date?
“And why a player at the centre of one of the biggest scandals in Australian cricket history warrants a hero’s send-off?”
Conveniently, David Warner’s wife Candice is employed by Triple M, and was asked about the saga on live radio on Tuesday.
“We’re doing well,” she said.
“David’s home. He’s been away for three months so to have him home now and be together as a family in the lead-up to Christmas is always special.
“It’s really lovely for David to have that support but he’s a good human being and at the end of the day that’s all that matters. He’s always in a good headspace.”
Johnson’s former teammates though, have, by and large, been less diplomatic in their assessment of the personal attack.
“Mitch’s summary of it was a bit a bit odd and left field,” Johnson’s longtime wicketkeeper Brad Haddin said on the Willow Talk podcast, which features a number of Triple M commentators and is housed by Southern Cross Austereo’s LiSTNR.
“I don’t mind past players saying, ‘OK, this is why I wouldn’t have him in the team, this is what I’d look at’.
“It looked like a bit of an aggressive attack on Davey’s personality, which I don’t think you need.
“Yes, you can have an opinion on what you think the team should be, but I don’t like when past players go really hard in a personal angle to the players and it felt a little bit like that to me.
“Everyone’s entitled to their opinions on selections.
“He attacked David and George on levels you don’t want to see anywhere, to be honest. It left a bit of a bad taste in a few people’s mouths, I think.”
Australian women’s captain Alyssa Healy agreed that it was a bit strange by Johnson to attack someone with whom he shared so much cricket.
“They played together, they’re mates, they’ve been mates for well over 15 years, played a lot of cricket together,” she said.
“And then to go bang really hard on a personal note, there’s obviously some scars there.
“He’s entitled to his opinion, but for me it makes cricket look a little negative, and I’m not a huge fan of that.”