- By Himanshu Badola
- Thu, 07 Dec 2023 03:18 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Australian cricket has been witnessing a spat between the former player Mitchell Johnson and star batter David Warner over the past few days as the relationship between the two players continues to remain on a toxic note.
After a long run of reactions from the Australian cricket fraternity on the feud between Johnson and Warner, former Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting has urged the duo to talk out their differences.
Ponting wants both the players to have a face-to-face conversation to solve the fallout and has also offered to be a mediator in the aftermath of Johnson's hard-hitting column in the Australian publication which has created a bit of toxicity in the lead-up to next week's first Test against Pakistan at Optus Stadium.
"I have to get in between these two guys at some stage ... I think I need to be the mediator and get them both in a room and let them have it out rather than playing it out in the media. They're both pretty feisty characters and we know this issue that's come up now goes back six or eight months, back to the Ashes selection. That's where it all started. It sounds like an issue that's gone on without either of them sitting down and having a face-to-face conversation. I'd like to see that happen," Ponting said about the controversy between Mitchell Johnson and David Warner.
Johnson wasn't left happy with David Warner's selection as he believes that the experienced campaigner did not deserve to be given a farewell considering his ongoing poor form in Test cricket.
The former pacer also recalled the sandpaper gate scandal, adding that Warner had not accepted full responsibility for his role in the incident that harmed the image of Australian cricket heavily.
Warner earlier had hinted at the Test series against Pakistan as his last one before announcing retirement from the latest version of the game but Johnson wanted to know "why a player at the center of one of the biggest scandals in Australian cricket history warrants a hero's send-off".
"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 a player at the center of one of the biggest scandals in Australian cricket history warrants a hero's send-off?" Johnson wrote in a column.
"He is not the one that's coming out saying all this stuff about a farewell tour, he just wants to do line up next week in Perth in that Test match and score some runs and he's made it clear he wants to finish off in Sydney," Ponting said while backing Warner.
