Mitchell Johnson - a nightmare for the England cricket team

Many an English batsman tried. And many an English batsman has fallen. He has struck fear in their hearts and that fear has translated into a paralysis of their thoughts and actions on the field. Fear has a new name – Mitchell Johnson.

From a team that looked like world beaters in the last Ashes series, England have looked surprisingly out of answers against the same Australian team. What has happened to bring about such a drastic change? The answer lies in the phoenix-like rise of a fast bowler, an enigma who has been often touted as the next big thing and compared to the likes of Dennis Lillee.

Mitchell Johnson has reproduced his best effort in a Test series for Australia. The last time it happened, Australia beat South Africa 2-1 in a Test series on African soil. Johnson had left Graeme Smith with a broken finger and Jacques Kallis with a bloodied chin in the second Test at Durban. It was one of the best spells of swing bowling seen in recent years.

This time he has pushed it up a step further. He has harassed the English batsmen with fiery pace bowling in the 150 kmph range. Jonathon Trott left after the first Test because of stress issues. All the English batsmen have got peppered in the ribs and chest area by Johnson’s fast sizzling deliveries. A lightning fast yorker ripped open the feet of Stuart Broad in the Perth Test.

All these physical blows have impacted the thinking and calmness of the English batsmen. A fine example of this came on the third day of play in the MCG Test. Johnson bowled a typical fiery spell with lot of short pitched stuff aimed at the English batsmen. Most of them played loose shots at the other end to get out, as facing Johnson seemed to unsettle them big time. Nathan Lyon, who finished with five wickets, was the biggest benefactor.

Former English Ashes winning skipper Michael Vaughan tweeted about it: “Like the way @NathLyon421 bowls but for him to get 5 Wkts on this pitch is daylight robbery…. #Ashes.” Fact is this was entirely the result of freckled English minds facing the fire and spark from Johnson at the other end.

Next on the line for this Aussie team is a chance to create history. If they continue their dominance over the English in Sydney, they will become just the second Australian team to win the Ashes by a 5-0 whitewash. Before this, the Australian team with legends like Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting had beat England 5-0 in the 2006-07 Ashes series. The current Aussie team will surely put in their best effort to emulate that.

What may be of slight relief to the English team is that the final Test match in the series will be in Sydney, where the track would be slightly slower compared to Brisbane and Perth. However, the big problem is that England seems to have lost the will to fight. They seem mentally broken and lost for ideas as to how to counter the Johnson onslaught.

What they will need in the next Test match at Sydney would be a big effort from their champion batsman in Kevin Petersen. He is the only one capable of countering Johnson. But for that, he needs to attack Johnson and get him off his rhythm and control. Easier said than done though, considering Johnson’s new found confidence and belief in his bowling, which has resulted in him taking 31 wickets so far in four Tests at an average of 14.32, with three Man-of-the-Match awards.

Taking into account all of the above things, it would be safe to say that Australia will continue to dominate England in the final Test of the series and win it to claim the Ashes 5-0 for only the second such Ashes score-line in history. This might propel the Australian team under the brilliant Michael Clarke to further glory and possibly the ICC no. 1 Test ranking in the coming future.