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Mitchell Johnson has revealed a pair of text exchanges with David Warner and George Bailey fuelled his fiery column questioning the pair, though he now admits to some regret about the personal tone of the piece.<\/p>\n
Warner messaged Johnson after a public exchange earlier this year between the former fast bowler and Candice Warner around the opening batter\u2019s place in the Ashes team.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mitchell Johnson and David Warner in happier times.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Reuters<\/cite><\/p>\n Bailey, more recently, contacted Johnson from India to express displeasure at an earlier opinion piece stating that Cricket Australia should stop asking the young fast bowler Lance Morris to rest from games.<\/p>\n In his regular podcast, The Mitchell Johnson Show<\/em>, with journalist Bharat Sundaresan, Johnson also took issue with Bailey publicly questioning if he was \u201cOK\u201d. Bailey made that comment on Sunday when he was announcing the Australian Test squad and was asked about Johnson\u2019s column for The West Australian<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, I\u2019m not angry. I\u2019m OK. Just want to make sure that everyone knows that I\u2019m OK, and I\u2019m in a good headspace,\u201d Johnson told Sundaresan.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s another point which was really disappointing. To ask if I\u2019m OK [by George Bailey] because I\u2019ve had mental health issues is pretty much downplaying my article and putting it on mental health, which is quite disgusting, I think. I\u2019m fine. I\u2019m not angry. I\u2019m not jealous.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s basically having a dig at someone\u2019s mental health and saying that I must have something going on, a mental health issue, has made me say what I\u2019ve said. That\u2019s not the truth. That\u2019s completely the opposite. I\u2019m actually clear-minded.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s based on my interactions that I\u2019ve had with him in recent times. It sort of tries to downplay the questions that I\u2019ve asked in that article. And to say that I\u2019m not allowed to have an opinion, that\u2019s what it feels like. It seems very childish from George and condescending.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just writing a piece that, for me, I felt like I needed to write. There was that personal aspect to it. But mostly I\u2019ve tried to write things that is backed up by performances and question why players are picked when you hear about players should be picked on form, and he\u2019s not being picked.\u201d<\/p>\n A Cricket Australia spokesperson said categorically that Bailey\u2019s comments about Johnson were not any reference to his mental health.<\/p>\n Australia\u2019s Mitchell Johnson, left, Michael Clarke, second from left, and David Warner, third from left, celebrate the wicket of England\u2019s Stuart Broad in 2013.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n Johnson explained the back and forth with Warner earlier in 2023 and Bailey during the World Cup in India.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was around the time that Candice had said on the [TV program The<\/em>] Back Page<\/em> about there not being openers good enough to take his position. That\u2019s when I responded to that,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cAnd I got a message from Dave, which was quite personal, and I tried to ring him to talk to him about it, which I\u2019ve always been open about with the guys.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I finished playing, I said when I\u2019m in the media, if I\u2019m saying things or writing things that you guys don\u2019t like, just come and speak to me. It was never a personal thing then. Until that point. That is what prompted me to write the article or part of it as well. It\u2019s definitely a factor. Some of the things that he mentioned in that message. I won\u2019t say it because that\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd a bit with George as well. He\u2019d sent me a message after the Lance Morris article. It was just a bit condescending. Typical George sort of stuff. When you receive it at odd hours in the morning, it was disappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n That being said, Johnson explained that he was still relatively new to writing opinion pieces, and would reconsider his tone in future.<\/p>\n \u201cI think, in general, the tone of my articles have been fair apart from this one,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThe rest have been fine. Even the one that I had written about what Candice had said on The Back Page<\/em>, I still wrote a lot of good things about David and his career. I was only bringing up the point of his performances and also players who should have an opportunity. I feel like that\u2019s fair.<\/p>\n \u201cIt does make me think with this one that it probably wasn\u2019t the right tone. But those are the things that you learn. You\u2019re allowed to make, I guess, like Davey made that mistake, I guess, well, but this is not a mistake. No, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a mistake. It\u2019s just me thinking about the tone in which I\u2019ve gone with here.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never made any of my other articles personal. I definitely feel the difference with this one. It comes from a place where I think I had to go that way.\u201d<\/p>\n Johnson also reflected on how he had to differentiate between friends he played cricket with and acquaintances from his time in the national team. Johnson will see his former teammates in Perth when he commentates on the first Test for Triple M.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just about finding out that you\u2019ve got your mates, and then you had acquaintances with whom you played a sport,\u201d he said. \u201cYou always had each other\u2019s backs on the training paddock, but then it\u2019s just about differentiating those relationships.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is sad when it gets to this, though. I\u2019m not a person who likes that confrontation. Even if it looked like that on TV. That\u2019s not me. It really is hard to go down this path. It is what it is. It\u2019s done. I\u2019ve taken ownership of it. It is difficult to write pieces. It\u2019s out there and it\u2019s public. You\u2019re putting yourself out there in the open to cop the criticism.\u201d<\/p>\n Both Bailey and Warner declined to comment.<\/p>\n News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. <\/i><\/b>Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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