Mitchell Johnson lashes out at David Warner, tears into him for wanting a "Hero's sendoff"

David Warner has been named in Australia squad for first test match against Pakistan in Perth.

Mitchell Johnson, former Australian fast bowler, has launched an attack on his former teammate David Warner, claiming that Warner’s desire for a test farewell on his terms reeked of the same “arrogance and disrespect,” as the sandpaper episode in 2018.

Australia’s selectors named Warner to their 14-man squad for the first test against Pakistan on Sunday, with Bailey, the chairman of selectors, claiming that he was in Australia’s strongest XI.

Earlier this year, the seasoned opener expressed his intention to retire from the longer format after the final test at the Sydney Cricket Ground. However, Johnson, accused Warner of failing to acknowledge his role in the ball-tampering scandal, widely known as ‘Sandpaper Gate.’

Johnson questioned Warner’s apparent desire for a test farewell, as well as why the selectors were accommodating it despite his form over the last two years, given that he had averaged 26.74 in his last 36 test innings.

“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? Why does a struggling Test opener get to nominate his own retirement date? And why does a player at the centre of one of the biggest scandals in Australian cricket history warrant a hero’s send-off?” Johnson wrote.

Mitchell Johnson questions whether David Warner was bigger than the game of cricket and Australian team

David Warner’s only notable knock since his triple hundred against Pakistan in 2019 was a double-ton against South Africa recently.

Johnson continued: “Warner certainly isn’t Australia’s Test captain and never deserved to be, for that matter. He ends his career with a lifetime leadership ban. Yes, he has a decent overall record, and some say he 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.

It’s the ball-tampering disgrace in South Africa that many will never forget. Although Warner wasn’t alone in Sandpapergate, he was at the time a senior member of the team and someone who liked to use his perceived power as a ‘leader’. Does this really warrant a swansong, a last hurrah against Pakistan that was forecast a year in advance as if he were bigger than the game and the Australian cricket team?”

Johnson was Warner’s teammate from 2009 to 2015, he and Warner were teammates in Australia’s 5-0 Ashes series whitewash in 2013–14. They also won the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 together.

“Granted, he made his double century against South Africa at the MCG last summer, but they were the only runs he had scored in years. Leading into this year’s Ashes series, that was the only time he had reached 50 in his previous 17 Test innings,” Johnson further wrote.

Australia’s men’s squad to play Pakistan in Perth Test: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins (capt), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Scott Boland, Cameron Green, Lance Morris.

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