Australian captain Pat Cummins has responded to savage comments made by retired fast bowler and former teammate Mitchell Johnson.
Johnson reacted with anger to Justin Langer quitting his post as Australia’s men’s coach on Saturday, a day after he was lowballed with a measly six-month contract extension offer from Cricket Australia.
But rather than direct his emotion at the governing body, Johnson fired up the keyboard and penned a bitter column for a West Australian newspaper.
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He labelled Cummins “gutless” and accused the new Test captain of white-anting the coach out of the chair.
Cummins broke his silence on the saga today, first in a lengthy statement and then by fronting a media pack in Sydney.
He revealed Johnson hasn’t contacted him personally about the matter.
“I can’t believe a fast bowler is having a go at me,” Cummins joked.
“Look, he’s just standing up for his mate. I absolutely disagree with what he said.
“No he hasn’t reached out. But that’s fine, he is entitled to his opinion, he’s standing up for his mate.
“I can hold my head high, so I’m fine.”
While Johnson’s was the most bitter and the most ridiculous, it certainly wasn’t the only criticism aimed at Cummins in recent days and weeks.
A number of former players have chastised the new captain -and his Test teammates – for failing to publicly endorse a contract extension for Langer.
Cummins only took the job on the even of the Ashes series, when Tim Paine was forced to stand down amid a sexting scandal.
“I haven’t actually had much of it before, so it’s good to get it out of the way early in the captaincy,” Cummins laughed.
“I knew when I took on the job it was going to come with added scrutiny, so the last week’s been good to know that I’ll cop it, but I’m absolutely fine with it.
“I know a lot of it has come from the right place. We all want to do what’s best for Australian cricket.”
Cummins touched on the reasons why the playing group felt a need to move on from Langer as coach – a sentiment he relayed to Cricket Australia via requested feedback.
And he says the relationship between he and the former coach is as solid as ever.
“We’ve had a few messages over the last few days. We’re all good,” he said.
“From my point of view I’ve got huge respect for the man. I love what he’s done, I owe him a lot.
“He’s been brilliant, not only for this team but he’s given me a lot of opportunities, backed me in a lot.
“Hopefully we can catch up soon and talk about it. He’s someone who I’m sure in the future I’ll keep leaning on.”
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