Amid Row With David Warner, Mitchell Johnson Hits Out At Australia Selector For 'Disgusting' Dig On His Mental Health

Australia selector George Bailey came to David Warner's defence after former teammate Mitchell Johnson wrote column targetting the veteran opener. Reacting to Johnson's column on Warner, Bailey suggested that his former teammate may not be in the right mental space and shouldn't comment until he is in the same spot. However, Bailey has found himself in the firing line for his reaction. Johnson has lashed out him for questioning his mental health over criticizing Warner.

"To ask if I'm OK because I've had mental health issues is pretty much downplaying my article and putting it on mental health, which is quite disgusting I think. I'm fine. I'm not angry. I'm not jealous. I'm just writing a piece that for me, I felt like I needed to write," he said on The Mitchell Johnson Cricket Podcast.

The 42-year-old termed Bailey "childish" and "condescending" for downplaying his opinions.

"It's basically having a dig at someone's mental health and saying that I must have something going on - a mental health issue has made me say what I've said. It sort of tries to downplay the questions that I've asked in that article... It seems very childish from George and condescending," he added.

For context, Johnson, in his criticism for Warner, said that the southpaw doesn't deserve a "hero's sendoff", while also reigniting the ball-tampering controversy he was part of.

The 73-Test veteran had said that the southpaw doesn't deserve a "hero's sendoff" referring to the Pakistan series being his last.

Not just that, Johnson was also critical of Bailey for selecting Warner despite his poor Test form.

"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. 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," said Johnson in his column for The West Australian.

Topics mentioned in this article

Australia Cricket Team Pakistan Cricket Team David Warner Mitchell Johnson George Bailey Cricket