Mitchell Johnson

[Fastback]

unbefknlievable people are saying we should take johnson and siddle to south africa. i mean seriously, wtf? 4 times taken for 500+. 3 innings defeats. you guys not watch the ashes or what?

build a new attack. a proper attack. build it from scratch. keep these muppets well away from our young kids so they don't learn bad habits. absolutely no point taking siddle and johnson to south africa in the vain hope they might replicate some past glory and actually show up on the day. bollocks to that. that would just be a waste of valuable rebuilding time

fk them both off

Bit harsh...consider the bowling breakdown...

Med fast Strike bowlers
Harris, Siddle & Johnson: 45% of the bowling at 33.0 average

Med fast others
Bollinger, Hilfenhaus, Watson: 32% of the bowling at 69.8 average

Spin/slow bowlers
Doherty, North, Smith, Beer, Clarke, Hussey: 23% of the bowling at 136.2 average


I think our bowling issues lie elsewhere.

 

[gaelictiogar]

Heavy tattooing is often indicative of psychological immaturity. At 29 he is unlikely to develop the discipline to bown accurately.

 

[Tazwegian]

Bit harsh...consider the bowling breakdown...

Med fast Strike bowlers
Harris, Siddle & Johnson: 45% of the bowling at 33.0 average

Med fast others
Bollinger, Hilfenhaus, Watson: 32% of the bowling at 69.8 average

Spin/slow bowlers
Doherty, North, Smith, Beer, Clarke, Hussey: 23% of the bowling at 136.2 average


I think our bowling issues lie elsewhere.

Um... WHat is the difference between a Med fast strike and a Med fast others? Didn't you just put people who took wickets in the first category and chuck those that didn't in the second?

 

[Jimthegreat]

Siddle is the only bowler who performed creditably for youse guys, so to consider dropping him seems harsh to me.

Prior to this series, I was one of many who thought Anderson might struggle in Australia, based on his previous experience. The ball, rather than the pitches, were my main concern. What is clear is that Anderson has worked on his game to great effect since he was last in Oz. Obviously Johnson either can't or won't. As has been pointed out upthread, he's no tyro now. Yes, he's not a bad batsman at times, but, to draw a parallel, would Broad keep a place in the England side based on his batting, if he was off form with the ball? Of course not.

Siddle took 14 wickets, 12 in two innings, 2 in the other 5. His series average was 34, career average 32. For some reason he is highly overrated. i don't want 6 wicket hauls and nothing. I want consistency otherwise we'll never win a series.

I wonder if Johnson is one reason why we struggle to reverse a ball. Poms worked one side, landed every ball on the seam or the rough side, polished the good side to the point it glowed hence were able to reverse it. Johnson scrambles it and lands on every part of the ball bar where he should roughing it completely. How do we reverse that ball.

 

[Jimthegreat]

Bit harsh...consider the bowling breakdown...

Med fast Strike bowlers
Harris, Siddle & Johnson: 45% of the bowling at 33.0 average

Med fast others
Bollinger, Hilfenhaus, Watson: 32% of the bowling at 69.8 average

Spin/slow bowlers
Doherty, North, Smith, Beer, Clarke, Hussey: 23% of the bowling at 136.2 average


I think our bowling issues lie elsewhere.

Harris averaged 25 in the series, and that probably inflated in Melbourne with his ankle, so Siddle and Johnson must have contibuted heaps to that 33 average. Siddle, Johnson and Hlifenhaus are the 3 strike bowlers and look at the scores England got. Why would you play them. It was embarrassing. We have to look elsewhere.

 

[PumpyChowdown]

How to fix Mitch:

1. Place handkerchief in ideal spot on pitch.
2. Make Mitch bowl at that one spot and one spot only.
3. Don't select him again until he can hit that spot with 95% of his deliveries.

 

[Tazwegian]

How to fix Mitch:

1. Place handkerchief in ideal spot on pitch.
2. Make Mitch bowl at that one spot and one spot only.
3. Don't select him again until he can hit that spot with 95% of his deliveries.

I think that could help all of our bowlers. To be fair to Mitch, he looked our most likely to take wickets most of the time, and when he was in a bowling partnership with Hilfy, they usually looked threatening. Those two have the most talent, aside from Harris, out of all the bowlers tried. They just need to sort out there accuracy, in Johnson's case, and cricketing smarts in Hilfy's case. My line-up for the next game would be Hilfy, Hauritz, Harris, and Johnson. These guys look like they can take wickets consistently, just need a better bowling coach.

 

[Bradesmaen]

His lack of bowlilng discipline is an obvious concern and usually I'd agree but you can't drop for an away tour of South Africa considering what he did there last time and considering that the conditions almost perfectly suit his bowling and his height makes him an even more threatening bowler over there.

The guy is a midget for a fast bowler. 189cm...

Ah the days when we had tall fast bowlers who could get that awkward bounce like Tremlett.

 

[mattymac]

Bit harsh...consider the bowling breakdown...

Med fast Strike bowlers
Harris, Siddle & Johnson: 45% of the bowling at 33.0 average

Med fast others
Bollinger, Hilfenhaus, Watson: 32% of the bowling at 69.8 average

Spin/slow bowlers
Doherty, North, Smith, Beer, Clarke, Hussey: 23% of the bowling at 136.2 average


I think our bowling issues lie elsewhere.

ya i see what you've done there. you've used harris to bring down johnson and siddles' averages.

harris was the only one worth persevering with. the others did their usual thing of bowling absolute crap punctuated by the odd stellar performance which does nothing except prove they are capable but dumb/weak minded/arsey with no real clue how they did it. they are the hilditch hacks. they suck the puss. they are the reason we can never bowl sides out and consistently lose series.

they are supposedly our strike bowlers. its their job to remove the top order. how often did they do that? no wonder our shit spinners were going for plenty when they had to bowl at the top order who had been nicely played in by a barrage of mediocrity

neither of them can even maintain a line or length or swing the bloody thing consistenly. how basic does it get? its embarassing. the pair of them are massively overrated

and yes, hilf and bollinger have had their day aswell. we need to cut our losses and build a completely new attack like we did in the mid-80s. to do that we need selectors who have a clue to build a bowling unit not chuck blokes together cos they've got rad tatts and image

 

[mattymac]

They just need to sort out there accuracy, in Johnson's case, and cricketing smarts in Hilfy's case. My line-up for the next game would be Hilfy, Hauritz, Harris, and Johnson. These guys look like they can take wickets consistently, just need a better bowling coach.

have to disagree mate. if they haven't got said accuracy and smarts by the time they get to this level they're never gonna get them. this is test cricket for christ's sake not a training clinic for teenagers

axe them

 

[smoovy]

How to fix Mitch:

1. Place handkerchief in ideal spot on pitch.
2. Make Mitch bowl at that one spot and one spot only.
3. Don't select him again until he can hit that spot with 95% of his deliveries.

I'd doubt there would be a bowler in the world that could do that 10% of the time, unless it is a big handkerchief!

However I agree with your sentiments.

The biggest problem with our bowlers was our inability to build any sort of pressure. Far too many four balls were allowed.

If you look at the english bowling, most of the actual wickets that fell were through our poor shots rather than what you would call the unplayable delivery. This is because they built pressure. Look at how low our run rate was throughout the series, yet we still got out to extravagant shots.

 

[Badesumofu]

181 wickets in 42 matches, with an average under 30, and a strike rate under 55 doesn't happen as a result of two good series, or only turning up once in every five Tests.

He's got some issues at the moment for sure, but he was our most effective player in the SCG Test, and an outright matchwinner in Perth. Our best performed player since coming back into the side, and he has easily the best career figures in Tests of any non-retired bowler in Australia currently.

Yes, he has some problems, but let's not go crazy here.

 

[Tazwegian]

have to disagree mate. if they haven't got said accuracy and smarts by the time they get to this level they're never gonna get them. this is test cricket for christ's sake not a training clinic for teenagers

axe them

How many test cricketers come in and set the world on fire immediately? Players are always working on their technique. Can't expect our inexperienced bowling line-up to be world beaters. Give the good ones time, they will come right.

 

[ROSEMVP]

him and siddle are in my attack with harris/Swann with copeland mckay hastings on the fringes

 

[Carbine Chaos]

him and siddle our in my attack with harris/Swann with copeland mckay hastings on the fringes

I think he's a few years of residency off being eligible to be honest.

 

[Phone]

(it's chris swan)

him and siddle are in my attack with harris/Swann with copeland mckay hastings on the fringes

as long as Siddle and MJ contiune to play together our bowling attack will be shit. one has to go. you'd have to be leaning towards saying goodbye to MJ at this stage.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

(it's chris swan)

Thank god somebody pointed that out to me

 

[mattymac]

How many test cricketers come in and set the world on fire immediately? Players are always working on their technique. Can't expect our inexperienced bowling line-up to be world beaters. Give the good ones time, they will come right.

i'm not talking about setting the world on fire and i'm not talking about immediately. johnson has had 42 tests. do you really think he's going to get accurate at this point? and hilfy has been around the traps a good while. he's near enough to 28 and has played 17 tests. at what point are these "smarts" supposed to kick in. i love the hilf. have been one of his staunchest supporters. but an average of 35 just doesn't cut it i'm afraid. time to step aside

we persist with this attack, we keep losing series. its that simple. inconsistency = fail

 

[Phone]

well swan seems to be a bit unknown to people on here...then again who gives a **** about queensland?

 

[Carbine Chaos]

well swan seems to be a bit unknown to people on here...then again who gives a **** about queensland?

What the hell is Queensland?

 

[mattymac]

What the hell is Queensland?

i think its a large lake somewhere near new south

 

[Phone]

Be nice guys. Our beloved mod Cousin Jed is still trying to swim his way out of there.

 

[DaRick]

What the hell is Queensland?

Psst...it's up north.

People are correct in saying that Siddle and Johnson cannot be in the same side. However, I would (reluctantly) keep Johnson, for when he's on he can take wickets anywhere, whereas Siddle doesn't appear to be able to. That and Johnson is the only real spearhead we have at the moment. None of Hilfenhaus, Siddle or even Harris really are - they're more support staff. I'm not sure whether Bollinger is, either.

Also, does anybody in Shield cricket come off as someone who could be a Test spearhead (rather than support staff)?

Part of our problem in Adelaide was lacking any sort of spearhead.

By all means though, we should reintroduce Siddle on certain grounds, like the MCG. I think he'd be best as a 'horses-for-courses' bowler. Same may go for Hilfenhaus but he strikes as more of a 'consistent' performer. Harris, unfortunately, lacks durability and probably cannot be played week in, week out. So we either chop-and-change constantly or leave him for the ODI's. I'd tend towards the latter.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Steve O'Keefe
Mitch Starc
James Pattinson
Josh Hazelwood

I maintain that long term our attack looks pretty promising. It's a question of when we want to blood the above players, but surely with the way our attack has been going it can't hurt to take this group to future test tours and blood them in turn.

 

[aussierulesrules]

Siddle took 14 wickets, 12 in two innings, 2 in the other 5. His series average was 34, career average 32. For some reason he is highly overrated. i don't want 6 wicket hauls and nothing. I want consistency otherwise we'll never win a series.

I think Siddle ought to be persevered with for at least a little while longer, at least till someone like Pattinson/Hazelwood/Starc are really ready. They will almost certainly be better options in the future, but we need to be patient with them, or we could burn them out too early.
We need to remember that when Siddle first started for Aust, his consistency was outstanding. He used to bowl ball after ball in that perfect line and length outside off stump. And he got wickets.
But he was then bowled into the ground and his performances began to suffer and eventually he developed stress fractures in his back, most likely due to being over-bowled. He's now only very recently come back to playing after that long lay-off and he also now apparently has a very different body, having lost a fair bit of weight. So with both of those things taken into consideration, I think it's a bit much to have expected him to have been at the peak of his powers during this Ashes campaign. It would be like expecting someone in football to play their very best immediately after returning from a knee-reco. Highly unlikely.
He's also only just turned 26, so he's probably not in the prime of his career yet. Think of how Stuart Clark and Ryan Harris were going at that age. They probably hadn't been heard of by many outside their states.
Speaking of Harris, many seem to forget that he was out of the team for the last Ashes test. If we'd had him instead of Hilfy and bowled first for instance, the final test could have been a different story. Hopefully he'll recover well from his foot injury, as he seems pretty keen to continue on his good form in the test arena.