Mitchell Johnson
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Source: Cricinfo, November 8 2007 |
Mitchell Guy Johnson (born 2 November 1981 in Townsville, Queensland) is an Australian cricketer. When attending a fast-bowling clinic in Brisbane at age 17, the great test fast-bowler Dennis Lillee identified him as a "once-in-a-lifetime prospect".[1] Lillee rang former team mate Rod Marsh and arranged for Johnson to join the Australian Cricket Academy in Adelaide.[1] Johnson subsequently played for the Australian Under-19 side that toured England in 1999 but unfortunately recurrent back injuries hampered his prospects. He recovered to start his first-class career two years later, when he was selected to play state cricket for his native Queensland.
In September 2005, he was in the Australia A cricket team that toured Pakistan. In December 2005, Johnson was selected for the Australian one-day international team, making his debut against New Zealand in Christchurch, with chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns justifying the selection on the grounds of grooming players for the future.
Johnson gave the first signs of his potential at international level against the strong Indian batting line-up in a one-day international at Malaysia, Johnson's 7th. He took 4-11 off just 4 overs, including the wickets of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh. Johnson then played in the Australian 2006 ICC Champions Trophy team, and in the group A match against England he took 3/40, giving further evidence of his skill with the ball. His victims included Kevin Pietersen. Johnson was chosen to be in the squad for the first Ashes Test beginning on November 23, 2006, and was 12th man in all of the Tests.
On 26 January 2007, Johnson took 4 wickets and took 3-0 in 8 balls in an incisive spell of bowling in the 7th match of the CB Series against England, for which he earned man of the match honours.
In October 2007 Johnson helped Australia seal the ODI series in India. He finished as the top wicket-taker with 14 wickets which showed his ability to take wickets on the slow wickets of the sub-continent [2]. In the fifth ODI at Vadodara he took 5/26, his first International five-fer.
On 10 November 2007 while making his Australian Test match debut against Sri Lanka at his home ground in Brisbane, Johnson took his first wicket on a bowl to Thilan Samaraweera that was caught by Adam Gilchrist. Johnson went on and got 4/96.
References
- ^ a b Townsville Bulletin: Mitch's big wait over
- ^ Australia in India ODI Series, 2007/08 - Most Wickets, Cricinfo, Retrieved 18 October 2007
Mitchell played his first test against Sri Lanka on 8th of November 2007