“He bowls to the left, he bowls to the right, that Mitchell Johnson, his bowling is [not right].”
That was the visiting Barmy Army’s song every time Johnson came on to bowl during the 2010/2011 Ashes series. The taunts riled the Australian speedster, who failed to take a wicket in the opening Test of that series in Brisbane, bowling 42 overs for 170 runs.
“I think back then I let it affect me a lot,” Johnson said last year, conceding he spoke to Australia’s team psychologist about how to deal with it. “It’s hard not to when that’s all you can hear in the cricket ground. I was at that point in my career where I was letting things get to me. It was not necessarily just the crowd; it was everything.”
Temperamentally, and physically, Johnson was a fragile man in those days, far from the feared paceman he is today. It was also frustrating for those around him, for Johnson was expected to be the lead act once Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee had called time on their careers.
“There were days when Mitch was as lethal a bowler as any in my experience,” Ricky Ponting, the former Australia captain, wrote in his autobiography. “At other times, he was so frustratingly erratic and ineffective. For someone so talented, such a natural cricketer and so gifted an athlete, I found his lack of self-belief astonishing.”
Four stress fractures in his back early in his career perhaps were responsible for Johnson’s lack of self-belief. Or, maybe, it was his late entry into the sport; tennis was his first choice. Further doubts must have crept in when he lost his state cricket contract in Queensland and had to drive a plumbing van for a living.
All that seems to be in the past. In the last six months, he has risen like a phoenix – of a terrifying variety – and has made England and South African batsmen hop and squeal. His aggression and extreme pace tore through a tentative England team to lead Australia to a 5-0 Ashes whitewash then proved the mainstay of a series victory in South Africa.
“You want to show the batsman that you don’t want them out there,” McGrath told the BBC during the Ashes. “You’re bowling to hit. You’re bowling to intimidate. Mitchell did exactly that.”
The batsmen have got the message loud and clear. Over the past eight Tests, Johnson’s intimidation has fetched him 59 wickets at an average of 15.23. He has taken a wicket every 32 balls and the 32 year old has promised to keep that hunt going for Kings XI Punjab in the IPL, as he returns from a toe infection that kept him out of the World Twenty20.
“I have often said I really do enjoy the challenges of Indian wickets,” he was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. “I find that you can still get good bounce and pace out of them and I noticed that during the IPL last year [as a Mumbai Indians strike bowler]. It wasn’t all just for the batsmen.
“I’m really excited playing on those wickets in India again and try and be intimidating as I have been in the last six months or so.”
arizvi@thenational.ae
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