Former Australian wicketkeeper-batter Brad Haddin lambasted his former teammate Mitchell Johnson for his remarks regarding veteran Australian opener David Warner before his farewell series against Pakistan, which begins on December 14th.
The third and final game of the series will be played in David Warner’s home ground of Sydney. He indicated earlier this year, before the WTC Final that he intended to retire from Test cricket and concentrate on white-ball cricket after having a brilliant career for Australia in the longer format of the game.
Speaking on the Willow Talk podcast, Brad Haddin Slammed Mitchell Johnson for his statement about David Warner and feels that it was a scathing attack made by the former Australian pacer on the opener ahead of the Pakistan series, which defames his personality.
“Mitch’s summary of it was a bit odd and left field. I don’t mind past players saying, ‘OK, this is why I wouldn’t have him in the team, this is what I’d look at’. It looked like a bit of an aggressive attack on Davey’s personality, which I don’t think you need,” Brad Haddin said.
“Yes, you can have an opinion on what you think the team should be, but I don’t like when past players go really hard in a personal angle to the players and it felt a little bit like that to me. Everyone’s entitled to their opinions on selections.
“He attacked David and George on levels you don’t want to see anywhere, to be honest. It left a bit of a bad taste in a few people’s mouths, I think,” Brad Haddin added.
Earlier, Mitchell Johnson slammed David Warner viciously in his column for Western Australia. Johnson questioned why a player involved in one of Australia’s worst controversies should be given a hero’s departure from the sport as the left-handed opener prepares for the final test series to be played at home.
Mitchell Johnson chastised David Warner for his role in the infamous ball-tampering incident, for which he received a one-year punishment. Following Justin Langer’s retirement as coach two years ago, Johnson had criticised Australian captain Pat Cummins in a similar newspaper editorial.
David Warner has stated his desire to play the New Year’s Test on his home field of SCG to conclude his Test career. Many former cricket players believe that a player should never select where to put up his boots without first performing for the squad.
David Warner has struggled with form since 2021, despite having good red-ball records overall, accumulating over 8,400 runs at an average of 44.43 in 109 games, and would be ready to conclude his Test career against Pakistan in front of his home crowd.
