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Mitchell Johnson

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In reality this thread is like the one about Hughes. If a team has a bowler who bowls well every 10 tests then we need 4 other bowlers in the team for 9 tests. Cricket does not work that way. His bad is just too bad to wait for the good. Pick him for Brisbane and Perth tests and drop him for the rest
 
Outside of the perth test his stats from his last 11 or 12 games are horrific, less than 2 wickets a match at 60, usually going at about 4 an over.

The selectors did him and the team a great disservice by recalling him after 1 match, everybody agreed Johnson had serious technical and emotional issues to work through after he was dropped, a week on the couch clearly didn't fix them.

If he had been dropped for 6 months he may have worked his issues out and be ready to rejoin the team this summer, now his career may be over.
 

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He needs to get some confidence inside himself. Call Wasim Akram and tell him he is sorry for refusing his free coaching service when he offered it and would welcome it now. The Test team is no place to find form unless have other bowlers around who are brilliant.
 
Stick a fork in him. 53 wickets in his past 17 tests @ just under 40. One of those tests he got 9/88, averages over 45 in the rest of the tests in that time. Batsmen have stopped slashing at the wide ones and he's less and less effective.

Surely done
 
At his peak, he's unplayable, the best quick in the World; but he's at that peak once or twice a year.

Look at Steyn; came out the other day, down on pace, everybody was wondering what was happening - then got it going and tore us apart. Even on his bad days, he's still good... Johnson, on a bad day, wouldn't be in the squad.
 
His peak was for such a short time it's hard to know what to make of it.

In the summer of 2008 he played 8 tests and took 47 wickets@21, either side of that magic summer he's been a fairly ordinary bowler.
 
a bit of quick statistical look at some of our bowlers over the last 20 years.

averages from innings where they didn't take 5 wickets.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...ype=bowling;wicketsmax1=4;wicketsval1=wickets

like most bowlers mitchell johnson's averages rises about 20% in these innings. interesting that siddle's is way out of range having about a 35% rise.

but what is more concerning at the moment is johnson's lack of penetration over the last year - specifically since leaving australia for new zealand in early 2010.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...span;template=results;type=bowling;view=match

for those 15 matches, the median wickets taken in a match is 2... that hurts. in fact, that's absolutely horrible.

if you look over his career, the median wickets taken in a match is 4 (out of 47 matches, his 24th (middle) best haul is 4. it is close to being 3 with his 30th best haul being a 3-for). But that's not too bad... it is comparable to Jason Gillespie who's 36th best haul (out of 71 tests) is 4, and his 37th best haul is 3...

Mitch Johnson - http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...kets;template=results;type=bowling;view=match
Jason Gillespie - http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...kets;template=results;type=bowling;view=match

i'm not prepared to go into analyzing each match in terms of wickets and average for the match, as that's just way too much effort in terms of comparing effectiveness of performances. for now i'm just showing how much johnson's wicket returns have diminished significantly.

When Johnson left for that NZ tour he had a pretty similar career record to Gillespie, roughly 10% higher average (dizzy ~26 to johnson ~29), and was in general contribute in matches where he wasn't killing it. MH had played 32 tests at this stage, and his 14th best wicket match haul was 5... that is good. very solid.

but since then as you can see when he is not dominating the batsmen, he's not even contributing and that has seen a massive spike in his average.

It also doesn't help playing alongside peter siddle who's whole career follows a similar path of either being well on top of the batsmen, or not contributing at all.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...kets;template=results;type=bowling;view=match

there are way way too many one wicket matches on peter siddle's test list.

these problems get magnified when the two line up along side each other (as they normally do) and it becomes a bit of a downward spiral.
 
The problem with calling for every second player to be dropped for under-performing is that there's nobody to replace them... I concur that Johnson has been pretty damn average, but we simply don't have a domestic bowler capable of terrorising the best batsmen in the world the way Johnson can.

Can't see him getting dropped this summer, just hope he manages to find some form and a few more potentially world-class quicks (Cummins is a good start) emerge domestically.
 
on the batting front i'd agree. on the bowling front there are plenty of guys floating about. maybe their best isn't as good as MJ's (not many is), but MJ has hardly produced his best lately and when he doesn't he is absolutely horrible.

since destory south africa in 2008/09 the only time he has shown any sort of consistent wicket taking form was in the 09/10 home tests but you can recall he took a lot of wickets from ordinary balls in those matches. since feb 2010 he has been total rubbish.
 

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Mitchell Johnson is a bowler with all the raw ingredients to be a success.

He has 2 major flaws.

First one - He can't land it in the same spot twice in 3 overs.

Second one - That seam position on release will never swing it on most days, only on days when it'll just go for anyone.

Solutions:

First one - Rhythm - coaches teach that.
Second one - Hand and wrist position - coaches teach that.

Conclusion:

He's had a host of coaches, all well credentialled who would mostly have said the same things I've just written.

At what point do you believe your charge is either not listening or incapable of complying to your coaching. I manage people for a living, in every bunch there's someone with all the talent in the world who just won't perform. What you do is manage them OUT for the betterment of the team.

He MUST go.
 
mdizzle said:
The problem with calling for every second player to be dropped for under-performing is that there's nobody to replace them... I concur that Johnson has been pretty damn average, but we simply don't have a domestic bowler capable of terrorising the best batsmen in the world the way Johnson can.
Click to expand...

Well when the only bowlers who get a decent run are Johnson and Siddle it's a little hard to know what else is out there.

Bollinger comfortably out bowled both for a year and was dumped the first chance they got, Copeland did a job on unresponsive pitches in sri lanka and was rewarded by being dumped for this tour, what other bowlers have been given 5-10 tests to prove themselves in recent times?

As for johnson terrorizing the opposition, did we enter a timewarp and end up back in 08?

He's scary for aussies fans and maybe first slip that's about it nowdays.
 
mdizzle said:
The problem with calling for every second player to be dropped for under-performing is that there's nobody to replace them... I concur that Johnson has been pretty damn average, but we simply don't have a domestic bowler capable of terrorising the best batsmen in the world the way Johnson can.
Click to expand...
We can't keep picking Johnson based on what he can do. He should be judged on his performance and, this year, he's averaging 50-plus with the ball.

Your approach is pretty conservative – keep picking Johnson because there's no one else. This philosophy would have meant that, had Harris been fit, Cummins probably wouldn't have played, and we'd all be none the wiser about whether he could cut it. Instead, we gave him a shot and it's been the big silver lining from this series.

By extension, why shouldn't we give Cutting and/or Pattinson a run this summer? Maybe Starc as well once he's got some cricket under his belt. If the alternative is just sticking with Johnson and contenting ourselves with only one decent performance per year, then we're stuffed. We need to start looking for alternatives because, at the moment, one of the biggest weaknesses in the Australian team is that our most experienced Test bowler is disastrously short on competitive intelligence.
 
mdizzle said:
The problem with calling for every second player to be dropped for under-performing is that there's nobody to replace them... I concur that Johnson has been pretty damn average, but we simply don't have a domestic bowler capable of terrorising the best batsmen in the world the way Johnson can.
Click to expand...

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I just don't get why the selectors insist on picking him. He doesn't have to be completely forgotten about if dropped. I would think playing every second game at the WACA for a few months would be the best way to get him taking wickets and getting some confidence back. Certainly better than being hit for near a run a ball on pitches most of the other bowlers are looking dangerous on.
 
Borisdog said:
Mitchell Johnson is a bowler with all the raw ingredients to be a success.

He has 2 major flaws.

First one - He can't land it in the same spot twice in 3 overs.

Second one - That seam position on release will never swing it on most days, only on days when it'll just go for anyone.

Solutions:

First one - Rhythm - coaches teach that.
Second one - Hand and wrist position - coaches teach that.

Conclusion:

He's had a host of coaches, all well credentialled who would mostly have said the same things I've just written.

At what point do you believe your charge is either not listening or incapable of complying to your coaching. I manage people for a living, in every bunch there's someone with all the talent in the world who just won't perform. What you do is manage them OUT for the betterment of the team.

He MUST go.
Click to expand...

add that the only way he can get a wicket is when the batter slashes at a wide one and nicks it. seriously he never bowls a bloke or gets then lbw. according to howstat, below are the % wickets bowled or lbw by recent aussie bowlers. MJ is easily at the bottom of the list. theres no point being fast if youre not threatening the stumps. as has been said many times, he has been figured out, and batsmen know they can leave him all day and just belt the crap to the boundary when it comes.

lee: 35%
gillespie: 40%
watson: 57%
mcgrath: 33%
siddle: 36%
kaspa: 36%
johnson: 27%
 

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Next lowest is McGrath though and he was comfortably the best of the lot.

Not to say you dont have a point re Johnson, just a bit of a misleading statistic.
 
Fanie de Villiers reckons he can help Mitch

"They can't drop him. He needs technical support and coaching," he said.

"There is a definite thing he can do better to get him swinging the ball again. It's all about angles. It's difficult to explain, but I can show him how it's done."
Click to expand...

If you've heard this guy on ABC radio during the series against S.Africa, he knows his stuff. Worth a shot?
 
May as well get Fannie to have a chat with him - but I disagree completely about 'can't drop him.'

Khawaja, Hughes, Cummins - these are guys you don't drop until their form fades or they need a rest; they'll do more learning in the National Side than anywhere else.

But Johnson is 30 years old, the Test side isn't the place for an experienced player like him to rebuild/fix his action - especially somebody as mentally fragile as Mitch. Drop him, WITH A CLEAR PLAN ON WHAT TO DO WITH HIM, and let him work on his action and performances in the Domestic Comp, away from the blowtorch of Test Cricket.

mdizzle said:
The problem with calling for every second player to be dropped for under-performing is that there's nobody to replace them... I concur that Johnson has been pretty damn average, but we simply don't have a domestic bowler capable of terrorising the best batsmen in the world the way Johnson can.
Click to expand...

Johnson hasn't terrorised anybody for a long time now.

We have better options at domestic level; if they come in and fail, we'd break even anyway.

It was sad watching Johnson in the second innings, he knows what he has to do, but can't do it.

The Selectors also need to start dropping/picking fringe players based on form, give them a few Tests, then if they fail, drop them back to the domestic comp - WITH A CLEAR PLAN ON WHAT THEY NEED TO DO TO GET BACK INTO THE SIDE. Stop treating an omission from the side as a big deal or a death sentence; almost every gun we've had has been dropped at least a couple of times in their career.


Johnson should be dropped for Cutting, immediately.

Siddle should go for Harris, Copeland or George.
 
Bomber Bears said:
Next lowest is McGrath though and he was comfortably the best of the lot.

Not to say you dont have a point re Johnson, just a bit of a misleading statistic.
Click to expand...
There was a series or two where NZ refused to play anything off McGrath that wasn't going to hit the stumps. It was a deliberate tactic to make him bowl straighter, opening up the legside as a scoring avenue. The idea was that McGrath made his career out of bowling just outside off and that you could take away his primary wicket taking delivery if you simply refused to deal with anything not going on to hit the stumps.

It worked to a degree. McGrath's average against NZ was a few points worse than his career average and I recall that it frustrated McGrath no end.

However ,there are some big differences between what NZ did with McGrath and the way sides are playing Johnson:

- It was a high risk move to not play anything outside off stump against McGrath. The margin of error was tiny - with Johnson the margin is huge and poses minimal risk for the batsmen.

- McGrath, even if not taking wickets, did not give up cheap runs. Johnson leaks runs constantly.

- McGrath built pressure. Johnson does not.

- Despite the tactic, McGrath found other ways to take wickets (still averaged 25 v NZ). Johnson has not.
 
Watching Johnson bowl in this test was enough to make me puke.

Strike bowler coming off a coupla paces and bowling medium paced pies.

FFS, this bloke's 30 years of age and must have had the best bowling coaching available.

If he hasn't sorted his action, and seam at release by now, he never will.

Most bowlers his age are masters of control, and have greater awareness of their art.
 

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