Published: Feb 22, 2011, 10:58 AM (IST)
Edited: Jul 02, 2014, 08:27 PM (IST)
By Vinay Anand
Mitchell Johnson has, of late, found the going tough in international cricket with far too many inconsistent performances. As a result he lost his place in the Test side earlier this summer for the first time ever since making his debut.
Johnson is Australia’s Test attack leader and at the moment does not seem capable of handling it. Thankfully for him, the burden has been taken of his back on the ODI circuit with Brett Lee making a comeback. However, since Lee’s hung up his boots already in the Test arena, Johnson got to do the job.
One thought Johnson came of age in the summer of 2008-2009 when South Africa toured Down Under. Johnson bowled a brute of a spell for figures of eight for 61. He bowled a similar spell later that summer, this time round, in Durban. He floored Jacques Kallis, broke Graeme Smith’s hand twice and also tonked a century, thus adding to his stature of an all-rounder.
All of a sudden, the Australian attack did not seem to be missing the likes of Glenn McGrath, Lee and Shane Warne. Johnson, Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus were doing the trick leading into the big Ashes series (2009). What made Johnson so lethal was the late swing that he started to get, which essentially dipped into the right handers.
Came the 2009 Ashes and Johnson lost all of that. He just could not get the Duke ball swinging and Australia’s bowling woes were exposed again. All of a sudden, his arm seemed to have dropped and rumoured problems with his mother did not seem to help the cause too much.
Ever since then, Johnson has been far from his menacing best. Australia finally dropped him after the first Test of the recently-concluded Ashes. Johnson came back in the 3rd Test at the WACA with a strong performance, reminiscent of the Johnson he was once known to be. The in-dipper was back and once again, Australia looked lethal as ever.
Soon again, Johnson had lost everything! But, how could he? Just 10 days later?
It would be hard for us to fathom what the reason to this could be with Troy Cooley still working with him on the same. Indeed, Johnson is very intriguing…
I kept a very keen eye on Johnson in Australia’s opening game against Zimbabwe. There was something different about him. Zimbabwe were 40 for one when Johnson came into the attack. He was very steady with what he did today and did not try to bowl at full tilt.
He understood very quickly that there was no point going all out on a slow Motera wicket. Control was something you do not associate with Johnson too often, but that was not the case against Zimbabwe – a very measured performance coming in at first change, with the odd bouncer or slower ball; keeping the batsman constantly guessing. So consistent was Johnson with his line that there was not a single ball on the pads in his first three overs – very rare and laudable. His analysis of four for 19 in nine and a bit is proof of his discipline and control.
I must confess, I enjoyed watching the more ‘reserved’ Johnson. He forms that middle ground between attack and defense and is a perfect foil coming in at first change to the attacking style of Lee and Shaun Tait. Johnson still did not find the nip back into the right-handers, but was still very effective if not lethal.
Australia would much rather have the controlled Johnson than have spurts of excellence. And the former is the order of the day with Tait going all out. Australia will have no trouble in making the 2011 World Cup semis if Johnson can consistently do in the matches ahead what he did against Zimbabwe.
(Vinay Anand is a 17-year-old cricket fanatic)
