David Warner breaks silence on ugly Mitchell Johnson feud, but refuses journalist interviews
David Warner has broken his silence on his feud with former teammate Mitchell Johnson, but refused to do media interviews.
The Test opener appeared at a Fox Cricket event in Sydney on Friday but brushed opportunities to speak to journalists, including 9News.
Instead he sat on stage and fielded a handful of questions from Aussie women's star Alyssa Healy, who asked about Johnson's withering attack in a newspaper column five days earlier.
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"It would not be a summer of cricket without a headline," Warner laughed.
"It is what it is. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. But moving forward, we are looking to a nice Test over in the west.
Brad Haddin, David Warner and Mitchell Johnson. Getty
"When you get on to the world stage, you don't realise what goes with that. There is a lot of media, a lot of criticism."
It's been five days since Johnson took aim at Warner in a vitriolic column in which he questioned the batter's continued selection in the national men's team.
Johnson also whacked chief selector George Bailey.
But rather than focus solely on Warner's form on the field, Johnson waded into personal attacks and referenced the infamous 2018 ball-tampering scandal in South Africa, in which Warner was the protagonist.
Johnson later featured on a podcast where he admitted to regretting the ball-tampering reference, but didn't back down from his criticism of Warner's long-planned retirement.
Warner announced months in advance his plan to retire from Test cricket following this summer's series against Pakistan, which wraps up in January at his home ground in Sydney.
Johnson found that call bemusing, given most players announce retirements just before or during a match, or even afterwards.
Johnson - a fiery former left-arm paceman - also revealed he had been feuding with Warner and wife Candice since receiving a nasty text message in April.
Warner has been named in a 14-man Australian squad for the first Test against Pakistan, which begins Thursday in Perth.
