‘It definitely affected players around the world and I think it changed the game a little bit for a while there.
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Johnson today announced that he would retire from global cricket at the end of the ongoing Test against New Zealand in Perth.
“He bowls to the left/he bowls to the right/that Mitchell Johnson/his bowling is s****”, went the song. He displayed similar levels of pace and brutality in the Centurion Test but the pacer recollects how the South African batsman hampered his rhythm by walking out and playing his natural game. Mitchell Johnson, who retired from worldwide cricket this week, believed and practiced it with expertise till teammate Phil Hughes’ death after being hit by a bouncer nearly a year back.
Johnson concluded his career with 313 Test wickets, also scalping two on Tuesday, and is behind Dennis Lillee (355), Glenn McGrath (563) and Shane Warne (708) on the list of Australia’s greatest wicket-takers.
“It still hurts to this day”. But, as many cricketers before him discovered, the best answer came with his performances, which included a man-of-the-series effort in Australia’s 5-0 rout of England in the 2013/14 Ashes. It was incredible to play in…
Johnson, however, was confident that his absence would not be felt much as Australia has a great bench-strength when it comes to fast bowlers.
Mitchell Johnson have had hundreds of encounters with batsmen on the 22-yard strip called pitch. They don’t make many like him anymore.
Former Australia captain Michael Clarke said, “What an athlete!”
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“AB de Villiers, he’s one outstanding player of our generation”, Johnson was quoted as saying by Inside Cricket. He added that it was certainly an awesome problem to play towards among the best gamers. “Congrats on a magnificent career Johnson”.
