Justin Langer, the former coach of Australia, has accused Mitchell Johnson of breaching an ‘unwritten rule’ among ex-players and said he ‘hated’ the column Johnson wrote about David Warner, the veteran opener.
Langer described Johnson’s comments questioning Warner’s place in the Test side and questioning whether he deserved a farewell in Sydney as ‘stubborn’ and said that former players shouldn’t be airing their grievances publicly.
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Warner’s teammates have come out in support of him ahead of the first Test in Perth, and it’s safe to say that the veteran opener will be up in arms at the level of criticism that has permeated the pre-test build-up.
Writing in the same newspaper where Johnson’s column was published, Langer was critical of Johnson’s content.
“In simple terms, I hate it when men from the rare club of playing cricket for Australia air any of their grievances publicly,” Langer wrote in his column in The West Australian.
“I believe in a simple ethos of ‘praise in public, criticise in private’. In other words, if you want to say something publicly, be positive and use the opportunity to praise the person you are talking about.
“In contrast, if you want to criticise someone, look them in the eye and tell them how you are feeling,” Langer wrote.
Langer then went on to talk about the ‘unwritten rule’ among the Aussies.
“There was always an unwritten rule that, although all of us may not be best of friends, the mutual respect of playing for Australia was enough to stop us from criticising each other publicly.
“Let others criticise us, but we would tend to stick tight as a part of the Australian cricket culture,” he said.