Mitchell Johnson

[Xtreme]

He made runs, got wickets, and sent people to hospital today.

Is that ok???

My point was he did well in a test against sub par opposition.... can his game stand up to an A grade on slaught

 

[Stig O'Hara]

My point was he did well in a test against sub par opposition.... can his game stand up to an A grade on slaught

He was utterly brutal today. Thommo stuff.

No-one likes standing in front of that heat.

One of the best hostile spells I have seen, in many years.

 

[OzBomber]

He was utterly brutal today. Thommo stuff.

No-one likes standing in front of that heat.

One of the best hostile spells I have seen, in many years.

You haven't watched Dale Steyn much, have you?

 

[The Passenger]

You haven't watched Dale Steyn much, have you?

this might sound like a dig at steyn, but it's not. it's a dig at the overall quality of fast bowling going around. steyn is a great, but the fact he is a CLEAR STANDOUT best quick bowler in the world, shows a real lack of top end quality in world fast bowling.

he'd be a great in any era (probably in the top 20 of all time imo), and there's certainly been periods were he could be argued as the best bowler of that period if he played in it, but look at the averages of the last 5 years.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;orderby=bowling_average;qualmin1=50;qualval1=wickets;spanmax1=28 Dec 2012;spanmin1=28 Sep 2007;spanval1=span;template=results;type=bowling

philander (ave 17.9) is still new to test cricket so we'll see what happens there, doug bollinger (25.9) is the only one close to steyn (22.5, so still 3 runs above) and he only played 12 tests so like philander there's still a slight * there, and after that is kemar roach (27.9) who is more than 5 runs above steyn. i don't reckon you'd find another ~5 year period in test cricket where only one quick bowler is averaging below 27 with a reasonably significant cut off for wickets taken... makes pretty poor reading really.

 

[Kyptastic]

Bowling averages are higher because conditions are much better for batting this deacade. Stern would be probably averaging a flat 20 if he played in the 80's.

 

[The Passenger]

The interesting thing is that, whilst this has been consistently the best period batting (2000 onwards), it's not like it's mile in front of any other period (which seems to be the general consensus)

batting averages by decade
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...batting_average;template=results;type=batting

bowling averages by decade (different figures because of no balls, wides, run outs and less common dismissals)
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...derbyad=reverse;template=results;type=bowling

Take out pre WWI, and pretty much every decade is within 10% of every other decade, with the only outliers being the 40's as the easiest for scoring and strangely the 50's as the toughest for scoring.

 

[sherb]

Left arm bowlers in test cricket (most wickets):
Wasim Akram 414
Daniel Vettori 360
Chaminda Vaas 355
Derek Underwood 297
Zaheer Khan 295
Bishen Bedi 266
Sir Garfield Sobers 235
Mitchell Johnson 200

Pretty good company. I don't think I have missed any.

 

[Parquet Court]

Left arm bowlers in test cricket (most wickets):
Wasim Akram 414
Daniel Vettori 360
Chaminda Vaas 355
Derek Underwood 297
Zaheer Khan 295
Bishen Bedi 266
Sir Garfield Sobers 235
Mitchell Johnson 200

Pretty good company. I don't think I have missed any.

left armers in cricket...really? bowlers bowl from behind the popping crease to a batsmen down the other end...which hand/arm/appendage they use is neither here nor there

and steyn is out and out jet, an average of 22/23 is sublime in any day and age, especially with the quick outfields, shorter boundaries and massive bats

 

[sherb]

left armers in cricket...really? bowlers bowl from behind the popping crease to a batsmen down the other end...which hand/arm/appendage they use is neither here nor there

Ah, so that's how it works.

 

[Parquet Court]

Ah, so that's how it works.

stay tuned for the next episode of "cricket : thats how it works"

 

[Nuke Fremantle]

Still not convinced by Johnson. The Saffers played him with their c*cks a few weeks ago. He'll hold his place for the Sydney test and it'll be interesting to see how he goes if its a good batting deck with little bounce. Bear in mind the MCG pitch was more WACA than the WACA itself.
As for this talk of him batting at 7, yeah some people need to take a shower.

 

[Kayaz]

Brett lee has come out and said get Johnson back in the Aussie team, reckons they picked too many similar bowlers, what do you guys reckon?

http://au.sports.yahoo.com/cricket/...alls-for-johnson-and-fear-factor/?cmp=twitter

 

[PTizzle]

At the WACA, sure.

 

[The_Reaper]

I reckon that it wasn't our bowlers who let us down.

 

[Kayaz]

we are struggling in that 3rd seamer area, Siddle and Harris are locks, but Bird and Starc weren't that great, Talk is Pattinson won't be fit for the first test.

 

[Stan_Darsh72]

Onlf if we have Bouncy and Hard wickets and if he has a great start to the Shield.

But i reckon that Pattinson and Starc are the ones fighting out for the last seamer's spot.

 

[The Passenger]

the gulf between his best and worst is just way too far, and if we were being honest the best has been getting fewer and farther between and fairly rarely sighted in the last 3 years.

his last 20 tests he has averaged 38. its pretty hard to justify for picking someone like that when we have the quality of quicks around that we do who are much more reliable, and from what we've seen from harris, siddle and patto their best isn't all that far behind mj.

he is fortunate that his best is so good because it means he will always be in the frame for selection. it's always tempting for the selectors to go back there. he was in the team only 8 months ago and went on the tour of india so that would suggest he is not too far on the outside of the squad.

 

[aussie1st]

Starc is a better version of him so no need for Johnson anymore.

 

[Super Hans]

Bird>Johnson.

Brett lee has come out and said get Johnson back in the Aussie team, reckons they picked too many similar bowlers, what do you guys reckon?

http://au.sports.yahoo.com/cricket/...alls-for-johnson-and-fear-factor/?cmp=twitter

He's right. They're similar because most of them are good (not Starc, yet). Johnson certainly would offer something different to 'good'.

 

[Torz]

MJ should be a limited overs player now, nothing more.

 

[Cleavy]

his time has gone for now in Tests

 

[DREAM TEAM BUFF]

Only ODI & 20/20 for him now

 

[Natho]

Patto is the man

 

[Kayaz]

Patto is the man

I agree, I think he is our best Bowler.

 

[Natho]

I agree, I think he is our best Bowler.

Would have been interesting to see how we would have gone if Harris and Patto played every game in the ashes together.