Mitch Johnson - what a spell!

[Mr. Wicket]

Freaking amazing stuff here. I've never seen him bowl this well, he's combined serious pace here with good movement and phenomenal accuracy and thought. He's just turned the match from a position where Kallis and ABDV looked impregnable and now Australia should win this comfortably. What a spell of bowling, one of the best displays of quality hostile pace and bounce I've seen in a while. This is up there with Ishant vs. Ponting back at Perth this year.

[fineleg]

Folks say Aus bowling has declined big time after McG, Gillespie etc True - but they have enough firepower to rebuild it brick by brick back to a formidable bowling lineup

[fineleg]

18 overs, 7 for 42

[cochise]

If the SA's did their homework, they would have known he bowls those cutter deliveries where he rolls his finger down the side...DeVilliers and Kallis played out to those balls when they needn't have...to balls angled across and cutting away. The rest...well, what to say? Hostile from Johnson and Duminy etc couldn't handle it. Earlier Smith and McKenzie got themselves out to stupid shots. Protea collapso! 100+ 1st innings lead and the Protea's bowlers are looking a bit toothless too...not aggressive enough, by my estimate. Let's see how the Aus 2nd innings goes...

[Fontaine]

If the SA's did their homework, they would have known he bowls those cutter deliveries where he rolls his finger down the side...DeVilliers and Kallis played out to those balls when they needn't have...to balls angled across and cutting away. The rest...well, what to say? Hostile from Johnson and Duminy etc couldn't handle it. Earlier Smith and McKenzie got themselves out to stupid shots. Protea collapso! 100+ 1st innings lead and the Protea's bowlers are looking a bit toothless too...not aggressive enough, by my estimate. Let's see how the Aus 2nd innings goes...

And they say South Africa is the 2nd best team in the world!! :hysterical:

[cochise]

SA seems to go very timid against Oz...Oz has definitely got a psychological grip on them...their fast bowlers who bully everywhere else seem like paper tigers here...at least in this first match...aside from the initial burst, look at how the tail-enders managed against them. Unbelievable!

[Shane]

18 overs' date=' 7 for 42[/quote'] Only if i could get one on the guys from my SS team to perform like that in tomms game

[punjabi_khota]

And they say South Africa is the 2nd best team in the world!! :hysterical:

But they are doing better than what we did in our first test down under.

[cochise]

But they are doing better than what we did in our first test down under.

True...but they have been here a while preparing while we turned up to a rained out single warm up and straight into MCG without any cricket under the belt in local conditions. SA have prepared hard.

[zubinpepsi]

oh well.. wat do ya expect frm the perennial chokers... giving wkts to this ladyboy is jus a shame..

[King Tendulkar]

Johnoson did not bowl that well. No swing or movement. The SA batters just folded like a pack of cards, pathetic display from there mediocre middle order

[Kartikey]

Ive gotta watch the highlights. But it sounds like typical South Africa.

[Sachinism]

he absolutely raped them damn need to see this

[cochise]

He was hostile to Duminy and downwards...the rest were pretty standard Johnson deliveries. More SA choking than anything else. The best delivery was to take DeVilliers...but anybody familiar with Johnsons cutters wouldn't have played at it...he was doing that with other deliveries in the over but this one was a little closer but still angled across...he was getting no inward movement at all so there was no need to play. Choke!

[Sachinism]

he bowled a spell of 5/2 damn just saw the wickets, meh

[Chorazin Reto]

Every time i watch him i think meh, but somehow he manages to consistently take wickets without a classical inswinger(its something that was present in his game earlier on in his bowling career), and has been prolific recently, maybe it's his genuine pace( he delivered 1 or 2 balls 150kph+ and was consistently around the 145kph mark) and angle that finds right handers chasing his deliveries. He has a good cutter and deceptive slower ball that drops down around the 130kph mark which i think is sufficient, Lee's drops down from around 140kph to like 115kph, i think it's a bit too much of a dip in pace. He's also a bit green like Ishant, but as a left armer who should be considered a genuine express bowler at 145+kph, he seems a handful when he's on song.

[Ram]

There's nothing exceptional about his bowling.. Its not like he swings the ball in the air or seams the ball off the pitch. Sure, he'e quite quick, but so was Mohammed Sami ( at times).:D But he just keeps on getting wickets!

[talksport]

Shocking... I saw Kallis - de villiers at 220/3 before I set off for work and now this. South Africa is becoming notorious for these kind of collapses though. Need to watch highlights of Mitchell Johnson...Does anybody remember the Spell in rain curtailed ODI match in Malaysia against India

[cochise]

There's nothing exceptional about his bowling.. Its not like he swings the ball in the air or seams the ball off the pitch. Sure, he'e quite quick, but so was Mohammed Sami ( at times). But he just keeps on getting wickets!

I think that is why he gets the wickets...because he looks innocuos enough for batsmen not to perceive him as a genuine threat...they drop their guard and get out playing shots they shouldn't have... The fast cutters angled away are his stock wicket taking delivery. As more batsmen take him seriously, they will be more wary of this delivery and his effectiveness will then be wanting.

[Chorazin Reto]

Yeah Marirs, its hard to put ur finger on, Lillee described him as a once in a generation bowler, he obviously seen something in him at a young age, for the record his average for his spell was around the 147kph mark with drift from the doctor. Has he just been lucky with his 5fer's and now this, what do some of the other cricketing minds here think?