Johnson Rediscovers Old Menace

Fiery: Mitchell Johnson has made rapid strides this year

The resurgence of Mitchell Johnson has been the one positive for Australia’s bowling in the bilateral ODI series in India, and now the visitors will have to face their deciding match in Bangalore without the one man who has consistently threatened throughout the rubber.

Johnson has been withdrawn from the final ODI in order to go back to Australia and prepare for the home Ashes campaign against England. It seems that Johnson, after four years of being in and out of the Test side, has thrown himself right back into the spotlight following a string of impressive displays in ODI series against India and England this year. With Australia’s bowlers – Ryan Harris aside – proving more steady than scary during this summer’s Ashes, the selectors have decided Johnson has improved sufficiently to add an extra, fiery dimension to an attack desperately in need of a genuinely fast, potent threat.

The infamous Barmy Army chant aimed at Johnson’s all-too-often wayward bowling has become the stuff of legend in English cricket now, but Johnson has emerged from it unaffected and desperate to succeed against the nation where it all went wrong in 2009. But what has changed?

Johnson’s slinging left-arm action can be deadly when he gets it right, as he did so superbly at Perth in the 2010-11 Ashes, but can also prove horrid should his arm not come over in exactly the right place consistently, as it was most notably during his nightmare Lord’s Test during that 2009 series. That Test proved to be a major block in Johnson’s Test career, and although he improved as the series went on he was never the same bowler. However, he is beginning to get it right again four years down the line.

With a game built around his full-throttle pace, Johnson needs to go all out when bowling, needs to send every ball down as quick as possible and with the aim of taking a wicket. During the last two ODI series, he has finally added the missing ingredient of discipline and accuracy that was so conspicuous by it’s absence in the middle phase of his career.

In an Indo-Aussie series defined by large totals and batting heroics, good bowling figures have been hard to come by but Johnson’s stand out a mile from his colleagues. He has taken seven wickets in five matches – the most among Australian bowlers – with the best economy in the side, bar the nominal figures of part-timers Aaron Finch and Adam Voges.

It has been this sudden emergence of being able to reduce his economy that has been the biggest change in Johnson’s bowling. Now, opponents can no longer wait on the bad ball to put away but are forced to try and make their own, leading to greater chances and opportunities for wickets. Whilst it must be mentioned that there is less need in Test cricket for the maneuvering of quick runs, Johnson has still made enough rapid strides to have become a real force, and his bouncers have been rarely if at all wasted. The short ball, in particular, has been a massive weapon on lifeless Indian pitches, causing trouble to all in the home side, especially the vulnerable left-handers down the order. Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh – both fine cricketers – have been made to look markedly inadequate by Johnson’s vicious pace and throat bowling.

It remains to be seen whether the electric Queenslander has improved sufficiently to re-make the grade at Test level, especially against a side with the batting talent of England, but he has certainly earned the chance to find out. Given the injuries they have suffered, Australia will be delighted to have such a potentially crucial asset back in their side, and given Harris’ patchy injury record he may find himself leading the attack by the end of the series. Harris was outstanding on his return to Test cricket in England but cannot be relied upon to continue to play back-to-back Tests without needing a break. Johnson has a good fitness record for a bowler of his type and it can be assured that Australia could get at least four Tests out of him in the series.

From a neutral point of view, Johnson is a fantastic player to have playing in such a high-profile series. Either he will pull it together and produce some of the great fast bowling spells of recent times, or his action will fail him again and there will be plenty of runs on offer. There is no middle ground with him. It makes him a huge gamble for the selectors, but a fan’s dream and Test cricket needs the entertainment his like provides to draw the viewers and crowds.

Good or bad, Johnson is going to have an Australian summer to remember.

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