MJ......Ill get off his back for a while

[Bgoodorgoodatit]

here i was sitting there with my mate (both mitchell johnson doubters)

and we are having a joke when he was brought on for his final spell about how he will probably jag a wicket, as to me he seems to be one of the luckiest bowlers at drawing piss poor shots form the batsmen or having them play on caught down leg side and so on.

and then he comes up with 2 absolute cracking off cutters and pretty much swings the whole game in Australias favour.

so im off his back for a while.

keeps that up and maybe, just maybe learns to swing the ball back in to the right handers then he might just have a long career in the baggy green after all

 

[aussies1st]

I'm off calling for his head for a while too, over to Lee now.

 

[Twizzle]

its amazing just how many wickets he gets with ordinary deliveries

he's also admitted he cant swing the ball anymore and I haven't seen him bowl with the seam up for ages, yet he still gets wickets

 

[Bigfella]

I reckon there are plenty of reasons he seems to get wickets with seemingly poor deliveries:

1. His pace
2. His angle
3. His ability to maintain good pace
4. His bouncer (he is our most intimidating bowler by far at the moment)
5. His unpredictability

He has repeatedly shown an ability to unsettle and hurry top batsmen, even ones who have been settled at the crease.

I reckon everyone has been fixated on the things he doesn't do, and mistakenly assuming he is no good.

It's the things he can do - bowl real fast left handed and bowl fast for five days in any conditions - that make him a threat.

Batsmen are never comfortable against him. They get in two minds because of the angle. They also know he bowls loose balls and probably feel obliged to deal with them.

Being fast and left handed the batsmen doesn't have to make a big error for it to be a big problem.

People on here have been saying for the last 3 series that his wickets are lucky. They aren't. He is bowling real heat for sustained periods, softening batsmen up and keeping them honest.

He is our most likely to take a wicket, and the only one who seems likely to take wickets back to back.

Also - I reckon you'll find that the only time other pacemen have taken wickets in the last few series has been when they have been bowling in tandem with him at the other end.

 

[TheParraboy]

I reckon there are plenty of reasons he seems to get wickets with seemingly poor deliveries:

1. His pace
2. His angle
3. His ability to maintain good pace
4. His bouncer (he is our most intimidating bowler by far at the moment)
5. His unpredictability

He has repeatedly shown an ability to unsettle and hurry top batsmen, even ones who have been settled at the crease.

I reckon everyone has been fixated on the things he doesn't do, and mistakenly assuming he is no good.

It's the things he can do - bowl real fast left handed and bowl fast for five days in any conditions - that make him a threat.

Batsmen are never comfortable against him. They get in two minds because of the angle. They also know he bowls loose balls and probably feel obliged to deal with them.

Being fast and left handed the batsmen doesn't have to make a big error for it to be a big problem.

People on here have been saying for the last 3 series that his wickets are lucky. They aren't. He is bowling real heat for sustained periods, softening batsmen up and keeping them honest.

He is our most likely to take a wicket, and the only one who seems likely to take wickets back to back.

Also - I reckon you'll find that the only time other pacemen have taken wickets in the last few series has been when they have been bowling in tandem with him at the other end.

Everything you said there relates to Wasim Akram as well

One big difference, Never, or rarely seen him taking wickets of poor deliveries, which Johnson seems to have done quite a lot.

Does that make Johnson a better bowler than Wasim? :crazy:

 

[African Monkey]

I reckon there are plenty of reasons he seems to get wickets with seemingly poor deliveries:

1. His pace
2. His angle
3. His ability to maintain good pace
4. His bouncer (he is our most intimidating bowler by far at the moment)
5. His unpredictability

He has repeatedly shown an ability to unsettle and hurry top batsmen, even ones who have been settled at the crease.

I reckon everyone has been fixated on the things he doesn't do, and mistakenly assuming he is no good.

It's the things he can do - bowl real fast left handed and bowl fast for five days in any conditions - that make him a threat.

Batsmen are never comfortable against him. They get in two minds because of the angle. They also know he bowls loose balls and probably feel obliged to deal with them.

Being fast and left handed the batsmen doesn't have to make a big error for it to be a big problem.

People on here have been saying for the last 3 series that his wickets are lucky. They aren't. He is bowling real heat for sustained periods, softening batsmen up and keeping them honest.

He is our most likely to take a wicket, and the only one who seems likely to take wickets back to back.

Also - I reckon you'll find that the only time other pacemen have taken wickets in the last few series has been when they have been bowling in tandem with him at the other end.

Are ypo in love with him or something ?

 

[HevyDevy]

I reckon there are plenty of reasons he seems to get wickets with seemingly poor deliveries:

1. His pace
2. His angle
3. His ability to maintain good pace
4. His bouncer (he is our most intimidating bowler by far at the moment)
5. His unpredictability

He has repeatedly shown an ability to unsettle and hurry top batsmen, even ones who have been settled at the crease.

I reckon everyone has been fixated on the things he doesn't do, and mistakenly assuming he is no good.

It's the things he can do - bowl real fast left handed and bowl fast for five days in any conditions - that make him a threat.

Batsmen are never comfortable against him. They get in two minds because of the angle. They also know he bowls loose balls and probably feel obliged to deal with them.

Being fast and left handed the batsmen doesn't have to make a big error for it to be a big problem.

People on here have been saying for the last 3 series that his wickets are lucky. They aren't. He is bowling real heat for sustained periods, softening batsmen up and keeping them honest.

He is our most likely to take a wicket, and the only one who seems likely to take wickets back to back.

Also - I reckon you'll find that the only time other pacemen have taken wickets in the last few series has been when they have been bowling in tandem with him at the other end.

No, people correctly pointed out his deficiencies and the fact that he was thrust into the Test side before he was ready - probably because Dennis is in love with him.

For most if his Test career he has not been a Test quality bowler.

Those that were watching closely would have noticed some promising signs against the Kiwis - doing things he hadn't been doing before.

Now it seems he is starting to live up to his potential. Still too many crap deliveries but rapidly improving.

 

[Bigfella]

Are ypo in love with him or something ?

My idea of a cricket forum is one where you come on and analyse play.

A huge part of this forum is dedicated to broad outlandish statements and personal favouritism of individual players.

Johnson has been showing signs at test level for some time. People on this forum have refused to acknowledge them because they are wedded to their personal biases.

That pisses me off. I have said dozens of time he's not my favourite but I have been sticking up for him because people's criticism has been misguided and unfair.

People who say he wasn't of test standard before yesterday are embarrassing themselves. He has been our best bowler for the last 3 series. He has been poor at times, no doubt. But there have been signs, and there have been wickets.

Some of the technical criticisms are fair - I have acknowledged that for the last few months. But statements like "not worth persevering with" "will never get left handers out" "not of test standard" "only gets tail enders" and "only gets wickets with bad balls" are meaningless generalisations that are plain wrong.

If he could swing the ball back in and bowl with McGrath's control, like some people have demanded you would have Australia's answer to Wasim Akram but with more height and he would probably take 500 plus test wickets. As it is I reckon he will get at least 300 injury aside.

He has been doing some very good things which people have just ignored. If he reins in his pace, works on more control and adapts his action to bowl an inswinger you might just succeed in turning him into Brendon Julian.

TNH I reckon the selctors, Ponting and DK Lille have proved better judges than the nuffies on here, especially the ones now bending over backwards to justify their positions.

Having said that, if he want to get back to the heights we've been at we want two opening wicket taking bowlers with him as first change. His best bowling has been with the older ball and his new ball work still needs improvement.

 

[HevyDevy]

Okay Bigfella, name these people that have been saying this.

 

[African Monkey]

I'll admit he is improving. He 's a crap bowler with the new ball but he is starting to reverse the old ball which is definitely encouraging. And as everyone has been saying, he keeps his pace up throughout the day.

No one on this forum has questioned his potential for one minute. It's just that up until the NZ series, he hadn't done anything to warrant his place in the side and the criticism he was copping on here was deserved.

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

its amazing just how many wickets he gets with ordinary deliveries

he's also admitted he cant swing the ball anymore and I haven't seen him bowl with the seam up for ages, yet he still gets wickets

when he's taking wickets who cares if he doesn't swing?

these are the people who said warne's arsenal wasn't good because he didn't use a flipper

 

[hineyrulz]

I am his biggest critic but you can't knock a bloke who has just taken 8 wickets aganst a pretty good batting line up. If only he could bowl an inswinger........

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

but he doesn't need an inswinger since he's taking wicket

it'd be nice of he had some support in the bowling ranks

 

[Bigfella]

Okay Bigfella, name these people that have been saying this.

he has not been a Test quality bowler.

There's one of them LOL

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

i'll put my hand up and say i've criticised johnson

but it's hard to deny he's doing his job ... he's doing a sh*t load more than brett lee is and brett lee is supposed to be our "strike" weapon and is failing against quality opposition ... but it's good to know lee will be there to take 18 wickets in a series against sri lanka

 

[Twizzle]

you cant complain about his figures but you have to ask, how long can he continue to wickets bowling leg side and half volleys outside off stump

 

[Meth]

It is hard for me, as a Kiwi, to really understand what all the fuss is about Johnston. Obviously, he would walk into the NZ line up- we covet him (although I'm sure many of the Kiwis here will disagree). Good balls, bad balls- I'll take anybody who can take wickets and bowl reasonably economically.

His average is a shade under 30 and his economy rate is a touch over 3. That's the same as Lee. He is no Glenn McGrath, but neither is Lee- and really, apart from Clark, not many bowlers that have been used by Australia in the past few seasons come near to McGrath's ilk

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

His average is a shade under 30 and his economy rate is a touch over 3. That's the same as Lee.

lee has a career of inconsistency ... johnson has 15 tests under his belt and lee has 74 ... johnson has plenty of time to bring the figures down

johnson also has a better bowling figures for both innings and a match than lee ... achieved in 15 tests

 

[Meth]

lee has a career of inconsistency ... johnson has 15 tests under his belt and lee has 74 ... johnson has plenty of time to bring the figures down

that's right- obviously, we don't know what will happen in the future- it could go either way. But Johnston doesn't look to be the major concern as a performer for you guys to me. Lee needs to step up; and as long as a guy like Siddle is around, Johnston will not look out of place in the team

 

[Mr Angry]

he is a lefty, he is reasonably tall, he bowls consistantly over 140ks

No McGrath, granted, do not expect to see another like that for a few years yet.

I think Mitchell will end up with 400 wickets @ 24.

handy with the bat too.