Mitchell Johnson: Superstar
kirby April 19, 2009
Tags australia, cricket, mitchell johnson
Mitchell Johnson is a man who has been praised by many high profile cricketing personalities all through his youth career. After facing him in the nets Ricky Ponting once said "He was as fast as Brett Lee"; this was a much younger Mitchell Johnson, who was bowling off 5 paces because he was on the road to recovery after stress fractures. And the greatest paceman of them all, Dennis Lillee, once described Johnson as "A once in a generation bowler". But up until perhaps 18 months ago, he was just Mitchell Johnson: Test player 398. Now, after 18 months at the top of the cricketing tree, he is Mitchell Johnson: Superstar.
I must admit I am very much a late convert to the Mitchell Johnson bandwagon. Even though he took 63 wickets in 14-Test match 2008, he was conceding over 29 runs per wicket, not a very flattering figure. And I'm sure I was not the only one sick of the sight of Johnson burgling wickets by snicking batsmen off with wide half volleys. Quite simply, it was just ugly cricket. But something seems to have just clicked for the athletic Queenslander-cum-Western Australian. Ever since the series against the Proteas during the Australian summer, Johnson has lived up to the hype, and can now even be considered the answer to Australia's all-rounder prayers.
Johnson's coming of age occurred probably toward the end of 2008. Not only was he Australia's second leading Test wicket taker in their tour of India in mid-2008 (with 11, only behind Jason Krezja's 12, but we won't go there), he was Australia's leading wicket taker in both the home and away series against the Proteas in the 2008/2009 summer with 17 and 16 wickets respectively. Add to that 255 runs at 85 in South Africa, and 146 at 36.5 in Australia and Johnson has emerged as a true all rounder. But it's not only his overall performances that amaze. Johnson's 8/61 in Perth would have won the series for Australia if only he had have produced even half of that performance in the second innings. And the sight of him thrashing the South African attack to all parts of the New Wanderers and Newlands for 96* and 123* is testament to his ability with the willow. But perhaps Johnson's best performance was his destruction of the South African batsmen in the 2nd Test at Durban. Not only did he dismiss Neil McKenzie and Hashim Amla in his first over- Amla with a superb 150km/h inswinger- he also put Graeme Smith out of the remainder of the series and sent Jacques Kallis to hospital requiring stitches to help bowl the South Africans out for only 138. This spell would have to rank as one of the most hostile and awesome in recent cricketing history.
Johnson's road to superstardom has not been easy over this last period of his career, as he has been Australia's senior bowler for most of it, yet has only played 21 Tests. This follows injuries to experienced campaigners Brett Lee and Stuart Clark. So the fact that Johnson has literally spearheaded the Australian Test attack ahead of young players like Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus, Andrew McDonald and Doug Bollinger (who have performed admirably it must be said) makes his recent form even more amazing. The key to his success is probably developing the ability to swing the ball into the right-handed batsman. It may be that Johnson just relishes the challenge of extra responsibility and pressure, or has simply been working extensively with the Australian coaching staff to tighten his game, but whatever it is, Johnson has proved that he has the X-factor to play an integral part in Australia's Ashes defence beginning in July. And who knows, Johnson may become Australia's most successful allrounder since Keith Miller, and play an influential role in the new era of Australian cricket.
I must admit I am very much a late convert to the Mitchell Johnson bandwagon. Even though he took 63 wickets in 14-Test match 2008, he was conceding over 29 runs per wicket, not a very flattering figure. And I'm sure I was not the only one sick of the sight of Johnson burgling wickets by snicking batsmen off with wide half volleys. Quite simply, it was just ugly cricket. But something seems to have just clicked for the athletic Queenslander-cum-Western Australian. Ever since the series against the Proteas during the Australian summer, Johnson has lived up to the hype, and can now even be considered the answer to Australia's all-rounder prayers.
Johnson's coming of age occurred probably toward the end of 2008. Not only was he Australia's second leading Test wicket taker in their tour of India in mid-2008 (with 11, only behind Jason Krezja's 12, but we won't go there), he was Australia's leading wicket taker in both the home and away series against the Proteas in the 2008/2009 summer with 17 and 16 wickets respectively. Add to that 255 runs at 85 in South Africa, and 146 at 36.5 in Australia and Johnson has emerged as a true all rounder. But it's not only his overall performances that amaze. Johnson's 8/61 in Perth would have won the series for Australia if only he had have produced even half of that performance in the second innings. And the sight of him thrashing the South African attack to all parts of the New Wanderers and Newlands for 96* and 123* is testament to his ability with the willow. But perhaps Johnson's best performance was his destruction of the South African batsmen in the 2nd Test at Durban. Not only did he dismiss Neil McKenzie and Hashim Amla in his first over- Amla with a superb 150km/h inswinger- he also put Graeme Smith out of the remainder of the series and sent Jacques Kallis to hospital requiring stitches to help bowl the South Africans out for only 138. This spell would have to rank as one of the most hostile and awesome in recent cricketing history.
Johnson's road to superstardom has not been easy over this last period of his career, as he has been Australia's senior bowler for most of it, yet has only played 21 Tests. This follows injuries to experienced campaigners Brett Lee and Stuart Clark. So the fact that Johnson has literally spearheaded the Australian Test attack ahead of young players like Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus, Andrew McDonald and Doug Bollinger (who have performed admirably it must be said) makes his recent form even more amazing. The key to his success is probably developing the ability to swing the ball into the right-handed batsman. It may be that Johnson just relishes the challenge of extra responsibility and pressure, or has simply been working extensively with the Australian coaching staff to tighten his game, but whatever it is, Johnson has proved that he has the X-factor to play an integral part in Australia's Ashes defence beginning in July. And who knows, Johnson may become Australia's most successful allrounder since Keith Miller, and play an influential role in the new era of Australian cricket.
