David Warner refuses to bite back after attack from former teammate

Given the chance to respond to former teammate Mitchell Johnson’s attacks, Australian opener David Warner took a different approach.

David Warner has declared “everyone is entitled to an opinion” and refused to hit back at former teammate Mitchell Johnson amid a brewing feud between the World Cup winners ahead of the first Test next week.

Speaking for the first time since Johnson targeted Warner in a newspaper column last weekend, questioning “why” the veteran opener deserved to get a farewell in three Tests against Pakistan, Warner was unwilling to return serve.

“Wouldn’t be a summer without a headline would it?” he joked at the Fox Sports cricket launch in Sydney.

“It is what it is. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions.”

The stars showed out ahead of a HUGE Summer of Cricket on Fox 🤩 pic.twitter.com/RpfgzDsvFj

— Fox Cricket (@FoxCricket) December 7, 2023

Johnson went even harder at Warner in the aftermath of the response to his article in which he said Warner’s recent Test returns weren’t good enough for him to keep his place, declaring a “disappointing” text exchange between the pair contributed to the personal attack.

It’s since been reported that Warner had contacted current and former Australian players to try to understand why he was being attacked by Johnson, with he and his teammates baffled the former fast bowler would be so aggressive given Australia has just won the World Test Championship, World Cup and retained the Ashes.

Warner said his upbringing in the working class suburbs of Sydney had helped him create a shield to block out criticisms.

“I resonate with where I grew up and for me it was a great upbringing and it taught me every day to fight and work hard, my parents ingrained that into me,” he said.

“When you get onto the world stage, you don’t realise what comes with that. It’s a lot of media, a lot of criticism.”

Warner’s Test captain Pat Cummins said the team had rallied around the opening batter, who will hang up his baggy green at the end of the series against Pakistan.

“I think we protect each other a lot. We have been through a lot over the years,” he said.

“Our boys, I’ve played alongside someone like Davey or Steve (Smith) for a dozen years now. (We are) fiercely protective of each other.”

Cummins said it was “hard to know” why Johnson had decided to take on the current Australian team.

“We have played with hundreds and hundreds of people over our careers and for the most part everyone is fantastic,” he said.

“It is hard to say (what Mitch’s motivation is), you have to ask Mitch. But there are so many things we should be celebrating about Australian cricket at the moment.

“Our men’s and women’s teams have had arguably our most successful seasons ever. We are going into a really exciting summer.

“There are so many exciting things about Australian cricket at the moment and I think we should be focusing and talking about that.”

The first Test against Pakistan beings in Perth on December 15.