“Is Cricket Australia Serious?”: Mitchell Johnson Received Invitation to Awards

Former Pacers Mitchell Johnson has expressed his surprise after receiving an invitation to the Australian Cricket Awards 2024. This comes after Cricket Australia (CA) blocked two of his speaking engagements last week. Regarding the decision to cancel his speaking engagements, CA had cited concerns over his recent column targeting former teammates David Warner and George Bailey. Johnson had slammed Warner over his ‘hero-sender’ and was also critical of chief selector Bailey for being biased in deciding the opening batsman’s future.

Taking to Instagram, Johnson questioned whether Cricket Australia was serious about extending him the invitation after sabotaging his speaking engagements in the middle of the ongoing Test series against Pakistan.

“Is Cricket Australia serious? Last week I got canceled from 2 speaking engagements. This week I’m invited to celebrate with them,” the retired fast bowler posted a screenshot of the invitation on his Instagram story. He also embedded the song ‘Take the Power Back’ by ‘Rage Against The Machine’ in his post.

After his scathing attack on Warner, Johnson had taken another target against Australia’s opener despite his century in the first Test against Pakitan in Perth.

Johnson, who earlier said Warner ‘doesn’t warrant a hero’s dismissal’, feels things could have gone either way for Warner, who received a lifeline in the first innings before going on to make 164.

Warner went on to register a huge first innings score but was dismissed for a duck in the second innings. Johnson made sure he highlighted that fact as he targeted his former opener again.

“On day one of the first Test against Pakistan, Warner rode his luck early – and it could have gone either way – and you take that and he went on to make 164,” Johnson wrote to the West Australian.

“He did what he was paid to do in the first innings before Saturday’s duck in the second innings,” Johnson said on Day 3 of the Test match.