From Australia to South Africa, Mitchell Johnson has been able to deliver 49 wickets from six Test matches.
He has made himself the elite bowler in the world who is giving everyone consistent problems.
His pace has been electric and it brings people into the cricket. When Johnson bowled in the recent Ashes series the whole crowd went up just like they did back in the 70s.
However pace isn’t the only weapon that Mitchell Johnson has.
Obviously as a bowler you need to do something with the ball whether that is pace, swing, movement of the pitch or variation.
As a fast a bowler you need to bowl quick and that is why he is in the team.
Johnson is quick but that doesn’t add up to all his success.
As we have seen in the last decade Shoaib Ahktar, Brett Lee, Lasith Malinga and Shaun Tait can all bowl quick but they haven’t been able to completely demolish sides in the way Johnson has.
Why? Because right now Mitchell Johnson is doing it all.
He has bounce, pace, swing, movement and variation and all of these were present in the last Test at Centurion.
Three key dismissals are important to look at.
Firstly, we have a look at Graeme Smiths departure in the first innings.
After getting away to a good start in the first over off Harris, Smith first faces the new Mitchell Johnson.
He gets a short ball at 140 km/h which is quick but isn’t quick enough to get huge elevation off the wicket.
The very next ball Mitchell Johnson deliberately bowls one a little bit quicker at 144km/h in which is directed right at Smith’s head and leaps up with huge bounce from the length with dead eye accuracy and direction.
This bounce is the undoing of Smith as he could judge the pace from the ball before, however the rare ability Johnson has to bounce a ball viciously off a length aided in the South African captain’s downfall.
Just after this, Johnson picks up the wickets of Alviro Petersen and Faf Du Plessis with both bounce and pace respectively.
Later on in the innings, South Africa’s bowling all rounder Ryan McLaren came out to the middle and was rattled by Mitch.
After a series of short pitched and quick bowling, Johnson combined both pace and accuracy to destroy McLaren’s stumps.
So much was the impressive nature of this delivery, that Johnson, like Morkel pushes the batsman so far back into his crease that when the ball comes they are often late or untidy with their stroke play.
The uncanny ability to do this has Johnson as a potential threat all through the innings and not just when the new ball arrives.
Finally, looking back onto the AB de Villiers dismissal shows the confidence and variety in Johnson’s game at the moment.
AB de Villiers was batting superbly again after top scoring in both innings.
With the game all but lost, except the threat of de Villiers, Johnson throws him a wide half volley outside off stump which de Villiers smashes, straight to Steven Smith at cover.
AB fell to the slower off cutter. Call this a fluke or non important, but this shows how Mitch Johnson is now a thinking, confident bowler willing to display his full confidence on the pitch to any batsman.
All these dismissals showed the range in which Johnson has with his bowling.
He is just the worlds inform bowler because of pace but by which the way he uses it.
Mitch Johnson had pace all throughout his career, however now he is using it efficiently and living up to his potential.
Through pace, bounce, direction and variation the left arm quickie is the bowler that all batsman fear.
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