Australia’s pacer Mitchell Johnson, center, is congratulated by teammates after taking the wicket of Jamaica Select XI’s batsman Nikita Miller, unseen, during the first day of a cricket tour match in Trelawny, northern Jamaica, Friday, May 16, 2008. AP Photo/Andres Leighton
A lot of the talk in the lead up to Thursday’s third Test, apart from the merits or otherwise of the misfiring Mitchell Johnson, has centered around the type of surface the two sets of players can expect when battle commences on the first morning.
Pitches at Edgbaston are fairly easy paced and lean in favour of the batsmen and the majority of County Championship games there in the recent past have ended in stalemate.
That said, the head groundsman, Steve Rouse, has compared his pitch to jelly and reckons it will provide assistance to the seam bowlers.
To me, that looks like a classic case of covering your own back.
While the weather has been a bit unsettled over the past couple of weeks, it hasn’t been quite as bad as Rouse would have you believe.
I played a club match on Saturday on a bone dry wicket and if a club can adequately cover a pitch, a Test ground should certainly be able to.
By getting his excuses in early, Rouse has a perfect alibi if the wicket does significantly assist the bowlers, a scenario that is unlikely to occur.
It should be a pretty good surface, one that will give the toss added importance.
Both sides, and especially Australia, will want to bat first unless the conditions dictate otherwise and they would need to be heavily weighted towards the bowlers for the opposite to happen.
Controlling the game is a damn sight easier with runs on the board and Australia don’t want to be chasing the game given that they are 1-0 down.
And this brings us back to the flavour of the month.
Johnson’s underwhelming performance at Northampton should have convinced those that matter that action has to be taken.
To keep protecting him by comparing him to his colleagues or his English counterparts is doing him a disservice.
Take his case in isolation. Johnson is haemorrhaging runs at an alarming rate without taking wickets. He’s got too much talent not to recover, but at this moment in time he simply shouldn’t be playing.
As an Englishman, I would want him to be in the Australian side come Thursday. If I was Australian, I’m not sure I could say the same.
Alec Swann
Expert
“Johnson is just as likely to turn it all around as he did lose it, at the end of the day he has better stats than Anderson in the series” This is the point I'm trying to make. Compared to any other bowlers, Johnson's stats don't add up too badly, but you can't judge solely on stats. Lord's saw a bowler in sharp decline, one who has seemingly lost all control of both line and length and I wouldn't put any money on an immediate improvement at Edgbaston. Comparisons are often meaningless and the whole England attack bowled poorly in Cardiff, but none were spraying the ball around as wildly as Johnson has started to do. Everything is relative and Johnson needs to be looked at as such.
Vinay Verma
Roar Guru
Jameswm..Too many nipples and cocks in your explanation. Seriously,though, I understand what you mean.
Colin N
Guest
"Johnson is just as likely to turn it all around as he did lose it, at the end of the day he has better stats than Anderson in the series" But who would you say is bowling better? Who's the bowler who got out four of Australia's top six in the first innings at Lords?
Jameswm
Guest
Yeah but if you think Phil Hughes has a problem with short pitched bowling, wait till you see Ronnie facing a fired up Freddie! I don't know what to do - I'd need to see the wicket and have seen them bowling lately. I did see some of the fours against Johnson in the last game were snicks over slips. If you go with Johnson, do you go negative and put Watson in for North, so you have seamer backup for Johnson? I agree with vinay too - tell Johnson to bowl fast and accurately to get his rhythm going, then worry about the swing. Having said that, it's hard to bowl a good line when the wrist is not vertical.. If the ball comes out slightly too late, it will go to the right (short and down leg to right handers) - if it comes out too early it will go to the left. with the seam and wrist vertical, the only thing affected is length. I learnt this in detail teaching my now 9yo how to bowl a couple of years back. With him, the trick was to get his bowling arm higher, to control his line. Having his front arm higher was part of it, but so was cocking the wrist - on the penultimate stride when you start the bowling motion with your bowling arm - in front of the nipple opposite your bowling arm. Cock your wrist outside your body and your arm gets wider and lower. Try it sitting down and you'll see what I mean, though you'll look pretty silly around your office!
Chop
Roar Guru
Nielsen et al have already said they would only play Mcdonald as a bowler so that means dropping Siddle or Hilfenhaus. I think Clark needs to play at the expense of Siddle and Hilfenhaus has been the best bowler on tour so far. If they want another bowler I think North or Hussey have to go and bring Watson in for the 5th bowler. Personally I think Haddin at 6, Johnson at 7 and McDonald at 8 would be ok, but it doesn't seem to be the way they want to go.
ilikedahoodoogurusingha
Guest
If Johnson plays then we have to go with 5 bowlers.....it is too risky at 1-0 to have him go for as many runs again without taking a bucket load of wickets. Personally I think MacDonald deserves a game...we won 3 games in a row with him against South Africa.....he plugs away line and length, dries and end up and chips in with valuable runs and wickets.
Chop
Roar Guru
Vinay, We're in agreement? Is it a full moon or something? :-)
Vinay Verma
Roar Guru
I'm with you,Chop,on this one. Johnson is the only bowler who can consistently bowl in excess of 150 kph. Yes,now is not the time to worry about swing. Bowl fast and straight and get the batsmen hopping. Keep it simple.
Chop
Roar Guru
I think Johnson has to play, an attack of Siddle, Hilfenhaus and Clark does not inspire me with confidence. Johnson being a left armer is different. I would be telling him to forget about swing, just rely on hitting good areas at good pace and not giving the poms to many '4' balls.
Terry Kidd
Guest
If the selectors play Johnson then they are throwing away the Ashes. Give him some time away from the spotlight. Let Cooley and McGrath work on his action and his head.
SouthernWaratah
Guest
Johnson is just as likely to turn it all around as he did lose it, at the end of the day he has better stats than Anderson in the series…