The bad news that Australia’s main left arm quick Mitchell Starc looks certain to miss the return Ashes series on his home soil comes with the inevitable search for a replacement.
One certainly put his hand up in the one day international at Old Trafford.
Starc, along with James Pattinson, is one of the best young bowlers getting around in world cricket at the moment.
But with the events of the previous evening, in particular the performance of the ‘other’ Australian southpaw – the one whose name is almost a dirty word to most Aussie cricket fans – the home side will still have a point of difference available to them when they play England for the second time in six months.
I’m talking about the fast, hostile, and genuinely impressive spell dished up to the Poms by Mitchell Johnson in Manchester.
Johnson took the new ball, something he has not always been able to do, and, as he has been doing since he returned from his foot injury, bowled with pace, a bit of movement in the air and off the wicket and a couple of snakefuls of venom.
His longer, more measured run up, along with his more compact front arm look to be slowly aiding his consistency.
He did bowl a couple of leg side wides early in his spell, and loosed a half volley well outside off stump that England’s Kevin Pietersen managed to reach and dispatch to the boundary.
But aside from that Johnson hit his lengths and even achieved that elusive movement back into right handers, if only once every four or five balls.
One thing that Johnson never lacked was pace, but on a tour where every fast bowler looked to be down in the count Johnson’s figures made me take notice.
During the Ashes Tests it occurred to me that the speed guns may have been slightly off.
James Anderson, who I’d always thought hits 140km/h regularly, was clocking around 135-138 most of the time.
Even Pattinson and Starc, both of whom can heat it up to 150 or just below, were registering similar numbers.
Peter Siddle and Stuart Broad (except in the final Test) looked to be down on pace as well.
But Johnson was hitting the 90 miles an hour plus mark (around 145km/h and up) regularly on Sunday night. The television speed gun was highlighting anything above 90 miles an hour in red, and I couldn’t remember one ball in the entire Ashes series that registered in red.
And the batsmen knew about it; in particular Jonathan Trott, who got a nasty short ball aimed right at his throat. The England stalwart could do nothing but throw his gloves in front of his face in a hope of self-preservation, then watch the ensuing deviation fly to Matthew Wade.
It was a jaffer to get early in your innings, which is when Johnson is at his most dangerous; with his tail up and his team behind him.
So if Mitchell Starc is out of the Ashes in Australia, is Johnson a good replacement?
I think we can all agree that he gives the attack something different. Whether it’s a good kind of different or not is where the contention lies.
We can also probably agree that, for better or worse, big Mitch will play in Perth, where he’s made a habit of taking bags of wickets on the bouncy WACA surface, assisted by the southpaw-friendly Fremantle doctor.
Do Australia hope that Johnson’s accuracy continues to improve as it has since his action remodeling? Or is he too much of a risk, knowing that a complete mental meltdown could be just around the corner?
After all, the Aussie quicks did a reasonable job in the series in the Old Dart. Peter Siddle was very good. Ryan Harris was out-of-this-world good, carrying a workload his body should never have been asked to.
On the other hand, Starc was middling at times, entirely unimpressive at others, and now he’s injured.
Pattinson looked down on pace and form, and eventually proved to be battling injuries as well.
Jackson Bird was ok, but too unthreatening.
Johnson would be a welcome addition back into the Test fold.
His bowling form and action look good. He bowls less rank deliveries than he did when he was at his lowest ebb.
It might seem obvious to say, but he’s bowling many more good deliveries than he did before.
Australian captain Michael Clarke, after the 88-run win at Old Trafford, said if Johnson continues his current trajectory he’s going to be hard to ignore at home.
I would have to agree with that.
Whether Johnson plays in all five Ashes Tests, gets used as a secret weapon in Perth, or plays as a point of difference in two or three Tests in a ‘horses for courses’ policy, his form certainly warrants a return into the top echelon of Australian fast bowlers.
Follow Paddy on Twitter @PatrickEffeney
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