In the space four months Mitchell Johnson has gone from a derisive selection in the Australian Test team to the most valuable player in the longest form of the sport.
In the space of six Test matches he has been the major catalyst in Australia’s cricketing resurgence, claiming man-of-the-match honours in four of those encounters.
Having just completed his 57th Test he now boasts 254 wickets at 27.5, having gone past Graham McKenzie (246) and Richie Benaud (248) at Centurion to sit seventh overall in Australia’s list of leading Test wicket-takers.
Anyone who thought Johnson’s demolition of England on home soil – 37 wickets at 14.0 – was a one-off, need think again.
On a relatively benign pitch at Centurion he returned career-best figures of 12-127 as he cut a swathe through the number one ranked side in the world.
There is no doubting that in his current form – 49 wickets at 13.1 in his last six Tests – Johnson is currently the premier bowler in the sport.
Few in history can boast such devastation over such a short period.
And it is not just the number in the wicket column that has been the barometer of his performance.
Johnson has intimidated and he has done it as well as any fast bowler in the history of the game.
The first Test in South Africa is testament to that.
Early in Hashim Amla’s knock in the Proteas’ second innings Johnson hit him flush on the grill of his helmet while he curtailed play for five minutes on the cusp of tea on the fourth day when another bouncer clattered into Ryan McLaren’s helmet opening up a wound behind his right ear.
The psychological blows landed by Johnson at Centurion will be difficult for South Africa’s batsmen to erase from their minds before they have to butter up again at St George’s Park.
At times in the past half a dozen Test matches Johnson has appeared to be as modern-day Gulliver against a Lilliputian XI.
His constant menace has caused havoc with batsmen’s technique and shot selection.
His all-out onslaught has been backed up by some sensational fielding that has produced at times dismissals that simply make you shake your head.
If there is one batsman above any other in the South African line-up who knows full well the physical damage that the broad-shouldered quick can wreak it is the skipper, Graeme Smith.
In the space of three Tests in early 2009 – Sydney and Durban – Johnson twice broke Smith’s fingers with spiteful spitting deliveries.
In that Durban Test he forced Jacques Kallis to retire hurt having struck him a sickening blow on the helmet – it was one of the few times the champion all-rounder was struck in the head in his long and illustrious career.
Once renowned for his scattergun approach which often saw overs sprinkled with wide deliveries either side of the stumps, Johnson has now become a far more controlled and heady bowler.
One of the recent additions to his armoury has been the regular switch from over to around the wicket and back again.
The change of angle and the alterations needed to his approach and follow-through each time he changes sides has not seen any dilution in his ability to hit the right spots.
Over the space of the recent five-Test Ashes series is was evident that the initial onslaught that Johnson wreaked upon England’s batsmen in the opening encounter at Brisbane played havoc with their minds for the remainder of the series, so much so in fact, that at times they resembled rabbits trapped in the glare of a vehicle’s headlights.
This current series is shorter – just three matches – and having sustained a massive 281-run loss first-up South Africa has to find a way of blunting Johnson’s dominance prior to the next Test at Port Elizabeth which starts on Thursday.
Failure to come up with an effective plan will likely see the Proteas lose their first series in 15 starts.
Of course it is one thing to formulate a plan, another to put it into action.
There is no doubt that Smith and the Proteas’ brains trust would have been paying close attention to the Ashes series so it was not as if they were not forewarned of the challenge that was about to confront them.
Yet, despite that warning and sufficient time to work on the technical and mental requirements needed to nullify Johnson when it came to the crunch they impersonated lemmings much as England’s batsmen had.
Johnson has been ably supported by Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon this southern summer but that trio have been very much a support act.
Johnson entered the Australian summer outside the top-30 ranked bowlers in Test cricket.
He went into the Test at Centurion at number nine and will surge into the top-five if his form holds through the next two Tests in the Republic.
The South African pair of Vernon Philander and Dale Steyn may well be ranked number one and two respectively at present but over the past four months Johnson has out-bowled them and by a considerable margin.
Michael Clarke has at his disposal a one-man weapon of mass destruction.
Johnson has broken bats, stumps and hearts in recent months and it shows no signs of abating as cyclone Mitch heads in a south-westerly direction to Port Elizabeth.
The locals had better batten down the hatches.
Julian
Guest
Normally it's batsmen who bring spectators through the gates. Shane Warne was another. No doubt fans will be clamouring to see Johnson's first delivery of the summer come December. First England, then South Africa and finally India. The big 3. The only shame is that the WACA won't host a test.
nick
Guest
Saw this elsewhere and thought it was worth re-posting: Johnson's balls leave Steyn all over South Africa
AlanKC
Guest
Absolutely.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
It's quite incredible that in the space of just a few months Johnson has gone from a player who most people were complaining shouldn't even be considered for the Australian test side, to a player who would be guaranteed first pick if you were picking an international test cricket XI. Phenomenal performances, absolutely phenomenal!
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
That's one thing I love about my DVR. If I miss a wicket I can just quickly rewind and see all the action! Yes! Of course, not at the moment since I don't have pay-TV and therefore don't have the current series on TV... :-(
Nick
Roar Guru
What I love about Johnson is the inevitability of imminent wickets when he bowls. You just KNOW he is going to get someone out and you run a big risk by running to the kitchen to get a drink. You might miss a wicket! Or even two! Marvellous stuff
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Definitely is true. The fact is that Harris and Siddle are both in the top 5 ranked bowlers in World Cricket at the moment, and Lyon is rapidly turning into a very high quality spinner. If they do manage to withstand Johnson, they don't get any let-up with Harris, Siddle and Lyon. And those guys bowling so well allows Clarke to just unleash Johnson in short sharp bursts to destroy the batting lineup. Michael Clarke's comments on his belief that he had the best bowling lineup in the world at his disposal don't look so stupid now do they!
ChrisB
Guest
Mate, while Thommo could spray it and did lose pace and efficacy (certainly post shoulder injury) too many who faced him for those few golden seasons say he was lethal for it to be just hype. Even post-shoulder injury he had his moments. The Windies players said his bowling at Bridgetown (I think) in 77/8 was the fastest they faced ever. He was pissed at the bouncers they'd bowled to our tale Enders.
ChrisB
Guest
Barnes also ran through our bats a couple of times, including in 1911/12 in Aus where England won 4-1, and we had Trumper, Bardsley, Hill, Armstrong, Macartney, a pretty strong lineup
ChrisB
Guest
While there is a lot of truth in this, I can't help but recall Jack Fingleton's reflections years after the event (in David Friths book, I think" where he said "I think We Australians made to much of Bodyline" I think some of it was disbelief that the "home country" could be so perfidious.....
ChrisB
Guest
Wait till the Indians try to ban any kind of bouncer before we play them....
soapit
Guest
yeah its interesting the different impact of lee (and say shoiab ahktar) and johnson. something about his really makes him different
Luke Smyke
Roar Pro
Wasn't exactly an innocuous off break sliding down leg side that you dream of welcoming you to the crease was it!
Declan McClure
Roar Pro
he hit the sight screen on the half volley while bowling a bouncer multiple times. Even johno's bouncers that really took off did it of 4 or 5 bounces. Thommo must have been unreal.
Declan McClure
Roar Pro
thanks john, i enjoyed that comment a lot.
AJ
Guest
I heard Terry Alderman tell a story about Thommo at the WACA vs Wa in the 70's. Bruce Laird played a forward defence, ball jumps off a length and clips the shoulder of the bat and cleared the fence. Terry said without doubt the fastest bowler he ever saw.
Beauty of a geek brains of a bimbo(atgm)
Guest
He averaged 30 with the ball before the ashes and now its 27.brilliant!
Joe B
Guest
Simoc are you off your head ? 1,Johnson won player of the year under who's captaincy ? 2. J Thomson overrated ? He was part of a combination with Lillee . Widen stated "it was easy to believe they were the fastest pair ever to have coincided in a cricket team". They go down as one of the great bowling partnerships of all time . Maybe you know better than Viv Richards ,Sunil Gavaskar , Martin Crowe who all said he was frightening . You must know more than they do about cricket . 3. Comparing Johnson to Malinga ! The only similarity is that they bowl with the same hand . The similarity he has with Thommo is not just pace but also brute athletic strength that's what sets them apart from others who can bowl at similar pace . Please discontinue from making such ridiculous statements immediately !
Simoc
Guest
Ponting must be spewing. If he could manage bowlers like Johnson as well as Clarke has he wouldn't have had a problem winning an Ashes series. Jeff Thomson was the most over rated bowler of all time but everyone likes him; and his wife even more. He was capable but bowled way more rubbish than Johnson ever has. And he wasn't a patch on Dennis Lillee bowling at the other end. Johnson is hard to face because the ball seems to come from the side, like Malinga, at great pace and is difficult to pick up. And Johnson is that extra 10kph faster than Malinga which makes all the difference. Where as Brett Lee was as fast, no opening batsman in the world was scared of him because after a few balls they could dial in to the pace Most of all Johnson is hostile now and at the batsmans throat with a missile that hurts; and they either know it or are soon to find out. Kaillis is as smart as his record suggests.
soapit
Guest
out thought though