Australian cricket made headlines recently with a series of comments from Mitchell Johnson and David Warner, which started from the latter’s desire to play a farewell series on home soil as well. The matter also includes a text message from Warner to Johnson as well as the involvement of chief selector George Bailey, the matter has not been settled yet.
Johnson had written in a column: “As we prepare for David Warner’s farewell series, can somebody please tell me why? Why a struggling Test opener gets to nominate his own retirement date? And why a player at the centre of one of the biggest scandals in Australian cricket history warrants a hero’s send-off?”
As a result, former Australian captain Ricky Ponting, who shared the dressing room with both Warner and Johnson, has decided to play the mediator between them. Saying that the players need to settle their issues in a face-to-face interaction rather than throwing comments at each other through statements in the media as well.
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Ponting told Sunrise on Thursday: “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.”
However, several former Australian players have also opened up on this matter. Meanwhile, Glenn Maxwell was also recently asked about the situation but he refused to comment as well. Notably, he retained his place in the squad for the upcoming home series against Pakistan, which is going to be his final red-ball assignment.
Ponting said: “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.”
