Mitch Johnson - what a spell!

[King Tendulkar]

Trust me he did not bowl that great nor is he that good a bowler. He is decent but not a patch on ZK

[cochise]

He does have speed though KT and he maintains that speed over the whole course of the day i.e. he is fit.

[Chorazin Reto]

Well ZK is an elder statesman with a wealth of knowledge and experience behind him, i wouldnt expect someone like Johnson(who is green) to be a patch on him, the question is, 5fer's, 7fer's ....... luck?

[Dhondy]

I watched him. Fantastic bowler. 142 kph upwards, great accuracy, gives the batsman very little reaction time. Can bowl over after over without flagging- a real workhorse. Australia's number one bowler, without a doubt, and probably up there with Steyn as the best in the world.

[Sachinism]

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

Don't remind me, he screwed us royally that day

[Sachinism]

Trust me he did not bowl that great nor is he that good a bowler. He is decent but not a patch on ZK

He does have speed though KT and he maintains that speed over the whole course of the day i.e. he is fit.

I agree with both here, Johnson is not all that, he IMO is a very lucky bowler to be getting the amount of wickets he does But I respect him for managing to keep his pace up throughout the day

[Ram]

It wont be too inaccurate to suggest that he's the FASTEST bowler in the world today.... All the other contenders ( Steyn, Morkel, Lee, Ishant, Gul, Siddle, Harmison, Flintoff, the West Indian quicks etc) are nowhere as consistent with their pace.

[Chorazin Reto]

Id say in the international arena you are definitely right Marirs, but in the domestic comp Tait is still faster than Johnson, last i seen Tait play in a 20/20 his average was around the 150kph mark with his highest hitting 155kph. Having said this a 20/20 requires only 4 overs, Johnson has bowled express pace consistently over 18 overs in a Test ....... impressive.

[cochise]

Tait is faster...but is very much a short burst bowler and he does have a diabolical action for delivery which is very injury prone....don't know how long he can keep going.

[Ram]

Oh yea.. I completely forgot about Tait

[Show_stopper]

Call me a spoilsport but that was typical SA chocking..nothing else.I always thought they were hyped up.

[Chandan]

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.

I watched the match today and I think you are quite right. This is how an Australian fan described his bowling (wicket taking) today:

Wozzie Midge is a "lucky" bowler ... of his wickets today McKenzie....WTF was he thinking? ...batsman error Smith...played on ...batsman unlucky AB ...nick to keeper ...plan A wicket Kallis ...nick to keeper ...plan A wicket Duminy ....nice accurate short ball...did he get a glove? ...lucky decision ? Morkel ...good slower ball ...spooned to a fielder ...bit of luck needed Harris ...on most other days it was a 4 ...I think he bowled for it ...but still a bit lucky and a few of his wickets in India and against the Snoozies were bad shots to wide balls IIRC

[King Tendulkar]

People are just reading the stats and it looks like he bowled brillinatly, believe me he did not. This fella can swing or seam the ball, as India exposed him. However, like others say I admire that he runs in and bowls good speeds. He is as strong as an ox. However, still say he is decent but not great.

[satishg]

i dont thing there was something exceptional in his bowling today..he was bowling a decent line and length with good pace..his strength is the ball that leaves the right handers and the saffies shd have known that..both Kallis and DeVilliers got out to those deliveries and Smith got an inside edge..I think the wicket he got off the short ball was really good.. so all in all a good bowling effort with too many wickets because saffies din study him well

[punjabi_khota]

i dont thing there was something exceptional in his bowling today..he was bowling a decent line and length with good pace..his strength is the ball that leaves the right handers and the saffies shd have known that..both Kallis and DeVilliers got out to those deliveries and Smith got an inside edge..I think the wicket he got off the short ball was really good.. so all in all a good bowling effort with too many wickets because saffies din study him well

The ball in which he rolls over his fingers is also pretty good. He got a few wickets in India that way too.

[Kshatriyan]

Call me a spoilsport but that was typical SA chocking..nothing else.I always thought they were hyped up.

agreed ...... but gotta give credit to the bowler.....

[Cricketics]

haha i knew Australia gonna route south africa again.. Brilliant spell by Mitch.. just want Australia to score heavily in 2nd innings to put south africa on a road of thumping defeat

[f.b.m]

Google Mitchell Johnson. Look at the first two results: - Mitchell Johnson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Mitchell Johnson (murderer) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Cricketics]

Need to watch highlights of Mitchell Johnson...Does anybody remember the Spell in rain curtailed ODI match in Malaysia against India

yep those 4 wkts were backed with some pretty good bowling from johnson. it was also the return of Tendulkar series, in which he hit century and batted all through out till 50 overs against windies.. we lost that game though, thats too some sick bowling and d.l.

[Ram]

The only problem I see with MJ; He face is very girly and he has a very girly first name.. ( I have seen many people pronounce him as 'Michelle'..:giggle:)