One of the most feared pacers of his time, Mitchell Johnson has laid into his former teammate David Warner over the latter getting the opportunity to hang up his Test boots on his own terms. The former left-arm pacer believes that Warner hasn't scored enough runs in the past three years to "get to nominate his own retirement date".
"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?" wrote Johnson in his column in The West Australian.
He also slammed the southpaw for not "owning the ball-tampering scandal" yet.
"It's been five years and David Warner has still never really owned the ball-tampering scandal. Now the way he is going out is underpinned by more of the same arrogance and disrespect to our country.
"As we prepare for David Warner's farewell series, can somebody please tell me why?" Johnson wrote.
"Warner certainly isn't Australia's Test captain and never deserved to be for that matter. In fact, he ends his career under a lifetime leadership ban.
"Yes, he has a decent overall record and some say is one of our greatest opening bats. But his past three years in Test cricket have been ordinary, with a batting average closer to what a tailender would be happy with," the column read.
Johnson also tore into the chief selector of the Australian men's cricket team, George Bailey, for letting Warner have his Test swansong despite his recent underwhelming outings in the longest format.
"The handling of Warner in recent years, who played with Bailey in all three forms, raises the question of whether Bailey was simply too quickly out of playing and into the job and too close to some of the players.
"I also wonder what the role of the head selector is these days. It seems to have moved to be a part of the inner sanctum rather than standing aside from it. There's now throw downs for the players, golfing together and celebrating wins to all hours."
