Published: Oct 21, 2015, 02:13 PM (IST)
Edited: Nov 01, 2015, 03:36 PM (IST)
According to Australia’s national fast bowling coach Craig McDermott, Mitchell Johnson is an exceptionally talented bowler and has the potential to take 400 Test wickets. McDermott is also a former Australian fast bowler. Talking of Johnson, the left-hander is nearing his 34th birthday and has picked 306 wickets in 71 Test matches so far. Considering that a pace bowler’s career is not very big, he may have around three more years of cricket left in him. So it is a possibility although tough that he may end his career with more than 400 Test scalps. READ: Mitchell Johnson becomes 5th Australian to take 300 wickets in Test cricket
Cricket Australia’s official website quoted McDermott saying to Fairfax, “He [Mitchell Johnson] is certainly fit enough and strong enough. At the end of the day, it comes down to his desire to keep going, to keep bowling fast and doing what he has done for us, particularly over the last two-and-a-half, three years. If he has a couple of good series – he had an unbelievable series out here against the Poms obviously [in 2013-14, when he took 37 wickets], and we have a couple of tough series away next year… He has bowled pretty well in all conditions so far. Certainly things like the IPL take a strain as well.” Ashes 2013-14: Mitchell Johnson can get 300 Test wickets, says Merv Hughes
Meanwhile, Johnson said that it’s difficult for him to get to 355 wickets. However, he added that his former mentor Dennis Lillee had said to him that he still had few years of cricket left in him, “I think probably now I can start setting my personal goals. But I’ve never been someone who’s done that. I’ve always set team goals. It’s probably a time to try and set some personal goals and see where I go. But I always put the team first. [400 wickets] seems like a long way away. I thought once I got to 300 I was going to catch Brett Lee quite quickly, but it didn’t quite happen that way. Maybe I got too far ahead of myself – 355 might be a bit too far away. I always aim to get a certain amount of wickets in a Test match, and that’s always been a personal goal of mine. I’ve just got to take it Test match by Test match.”
