After finishing the World Cup campaign, Australia is playing a five-match T20 series against India. After ending this series, they will be playing a test series against Pakistan on home soil. Australian player David Warner will take retirement from the longest format of cricket after this series. Former Australian bowler Mitchell Johnson took a dig at Warner’s retirement farewell. After that, he raised questions over Chief Selector George Bailey’s credibility.
Warner’s Retirement:
David Warner, Steve Smith, and Cameron Bancroft were caught in a ball-tempering case. Bancroft was seen rubbing the ball with a yellow object. After the case, Smith and Warner were banned from international cricket for one year. Both of them are under a lifetime captaincy ban. They came back after a year ban and resumed playing cricket.
David Warner will say a final goodbye to test cricket after the series against Pakistan. He announced that he would be retiring from the longest format of cricket at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Former Australian bowler Mitchell Johnson lashes out on this matter. He also criticized head selector George Bailey for that reason.
Mitchell Johnson on Bailey:
Mitchell Johnson takes a dig at George Bailey. He also gave an example of Tim Paine how his career was destroyed after a sexting controversy. He said, “When then-captain Tim Paine’s career was ending over the sexting controversy, chairman of selectors George Bailey said he didn’t want to be part of deciding Paine’s fate because the pair were close friends.”
“Bailey said he would leave it to then coach Justin Langer and fellow selector Tony Dodemaide to work it out. 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.”
George Bailey’s Reaction:
Bailey also responded to Johnson’s reaction. He said, “My only observation would be if someone could show me how being distant and unaware of what players are going through and what the plans are with the team and with the coaching staff – how that’s more beneficial – I’d be all ears.”
He also backed Warner. He said, “Ultimately, we still think he’s in our best 11 players to win the first test. I think Test cricket, in terms of the way that the World Test Championship points is set up, each Test is critical. There’s points on the line for each and every game. So our focus is very much on picking the 11 that we think can do the job and obviously, there’s roles within that for each individual and how that actually structures up the team as a whole and we think David is the right person for that for this test.”
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