Mitchell Johnson has revealed the "personal" act that sparked his explosive takedown of David Warner and George Bailey in a column for a Western Australia newspaper.
The former Test quick unleashed a scathing attack on Warner's form while calling out Bailey's preferential treatment of players shortly before Cricket Australia announced him in its 14-man squad for Pakistan's upcoming tour on Sunday.
Speaking on his podcast The Mitchell Johnson Cricket Show alongside co-host Bharat Sundaresan, Johnson doubled down on his comments, claiming text messages from earlier in the year triggered a falling out with Warner and provoked him to express himself.
READ MORE: 'Ignorant' Johnson ripped as 'sad' trend appears
READ MORE: Smith's Olympic dream takes another hit
READ MORE: Simmering state feud that could derail Aussie's cricket summer
"It was around the time that [Warner's wife] Candice had said on (Fox Sports') The Back Page about there not being openers good enough to take his position. That's when I responded to that [in another column], and I got a message from Dave, which was quite personal and I tried to ring him to talk to him about it, which I've always been open about with the guys," Johnson said.
"It was never a personal thing then. Until that point [when I received his message]. That is what prompted me to write the article or part of it as well. It's definitely a factor.
"Some of the things that he mentioned in that message. I won't say it because that's up to Dave to say if he wants to talk about it. There was some stuff in there, which was extremely disappointing what he said and pretty bad, to be honest. That sort of was a bit of a driver."
In a similar situation, Johnson also implied a rift with Bailey had developed after the national team selector lashed out at his remarks in the media.
"He'd sent me a message after the Lance Morris article [about Morris being rested in a Sheffield Shield game]. It was just a bit condescending. Typical George sort of stuff," he said.
"When you receive at odd hours in the morning, it was disappointing."
Johnson added: "I probably was set off by receiving a message from [Bailey] at odd hours in the morning and him not showing the respect to make a phone call. That's pretty much that.
"The thing I struggle with the most is not having those phone calls. I would have preferred to have a conversation with those guys, face-to-face. The best way to do it. To get those messages I felt it was disrespectful."
Johnson stated his opinions were not based on bitterness but on his lived experience.
"I'm not angry. I'm OK. I'm not jealous," he said.
"I'm just writing a piece that for me I felt like I needed to write.
"I feel like I'm in a position to write what I write because I've gone through all of it."
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.