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Mitchell Johnson’s bowling was always characterised by unforgiving and unapologetic aggression. But the death of team-mate Phil Hughes led to a period of honest self-reflection where he was forced to grapple with the reality that his bowling wasn’t just fearsome, it was potentially deadly.
In an honest and candid interview on the ABC’s 7:30 report, Johnson opened up about how the tragic event affected him.
“I think it hit me really hard because I did have that Ashes series where I was really aggressive and bowling a lot of short balls and I did hit players so it made me think,
‘Was I doing the right thing? Was I playing in the spirit of the game'”
He wasn’t alone.
It was a question the wider cricket community was wrestling with. Some called for bouncers to be banned, others for greater protection requirements and others wanted to see the status quo untouched.
But when the dust settled and Varun Aaron sent down a bouncer at David Warner in the first Test at Adelaide, there was the sense that normalcy had returned.
Johnson was visibly rattled when he hit Virat Kohli on the badge in that same game, but his aggressive approach didn’t waver.
For all the unspeakable heart-break it caused, it was a freak accident, a one-in-a-million chance – and Johnson, and the game of cricket would keep rolling on.
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