Mitchell Johnson: The forgotten man of Australian cricket
After a summer on the sidelines, thanks to a pesky complaint with his big toe, the richly talented 30-year-old is on the verge on making his comeback to competitive cricket.
The big left-armer was conspicuously absent from the twin Test series against New Zealand and India last summer but freely admits his injury-enforced lay-off has come as a blessing in disguise.
Now, after five-months, he’s finally back into the bowling phase of his rehab – albeit in net sessions and not the Caribbean alongside his counterparts in Baggy Greens.
Johnson enjoyed his ‘first Christmas at home’ in Perth last year and has kept up with as much fitness work as possible, despite wearing a protective boot following surgery in late-November.
He’s enjoying having leather in hand again now and if his improvement continues, he’s a chance to be cleared for a return to competitive cricket in the back half of the Indian Premier League for the Mumbai Indians.
“I’ve been bowling three times this week… I’m getting all that soreness back again, that bowling soreness which is good,” he said. “While I was in the boot there wasn’t a hell of a lot I could do but I tried to keep as active as what my toe allowed me.”
“The recovery has been unreal (and) I haven’t had too many days with any pain. When I do something new I feel my toe a little bit, just because it’s a bit swollen. It still, at the moment, feels a bit numb in certain spots from the surgery.”
“As for pain, when I first started bowling I felt it once, so I backed off and it’s been pretty much pain-free, so it’s gone really well.”
“It’s probably been the last month or so that I’ve been really eager to get out there and play some cricket again and bowling now it’s given me a whole freshen up, just being away from it. I want to get out there and play.”
Johnson burst onto the international scene through the limited overs arena in December 2005 before debuting as a Test cricketer two seasons later.
In 2009 he was been named the ICC’s International Cricketer of the Year, his prowess as a ‘complete all-rounder’ highlighted by a breakout series away in South Africa that reaped his maiden Test century and bags of wickets.
Later that year, however, things had begun to go awry with a disappointing Ashes series followed by a string of Test outings that saw his match-winning best increasingly diluted by regular bouts of confidence-crushing waywardness.
“I think it started with the Ashes, to be honest, the Ashes over there in 2009,” Johnson said of his much-publicised fall from the spotlight.
“I built it up, they were talking about me as the leader of the attack, the mind games came in and I started to think about it too much and I don’t think that was the right way to go about it.”
After taking five wickets in the series opener in Cardiff, Johnson battled through the Lord’s match and England went on to win the Test in style, setting up their eventual series victory.
Having arrived in the Test side as pace stars like Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Stuart Clark were coming to the end of their international run, the mild-mannered Johnson was thrust into a leadership role early in his career.
While initial signs were positive and the young firebrand relished the responsibility, he believes over-analysis of his game – both internally and externally – may have started his slide down a slippery slope before his ‘turf toe’ injury during the 2011 Test series in South Africa.
“In the Test side of things I was pretty fresh coming in,” he said. “Brett Lee was leading the attack and Stu Clark was there and (then) those guys were gone and I’d only played a handful of Tests.”
“It was myself and Peter Siddle, with other guys coming in and out, so it was a pretty big role to take on.”
As his form wavered and the fortunes of the national side appeared to subside with it, Johnson was held up as a scapegoat by sections of the media and general public – but he acknowledges his own expectations also became problematic.
He says the overriding bonus of this five-month lay-off have been being able to step back and re-assess from a new angle.
“I think the mental side of the game can wear you down a bit when you’ve got the media, the public and yourself to deal with as well,” he said. “It got to the stage there where it’s been a great time to get away from the game and look at it from a different perspective.”
“I definitely put myself under too much pressure, I’m a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to things I do in my life and I want to do it the best I can and sometimes I probably can get influenced from the outside as well.”
“In the end it’s a professional sport and we’ve got to be mentally strong and from day one the media was there and the public there and it’s just something you have to deal with and I didn’t deal with that well for the last 12 months, I don’t think.”
“The break has been great and I’ve been able to get away from it and it’s something I’m looking forward to, getting back into those pressure situations where people are looking at you and I’ve learned a lot from having this break and being able to see it from different perspectives.”
Johnson isn’t looking to reinvent the wheel with his comeback to the playing arena, preferring to focus on returning to the kind of form that first propelled him into the spotlight.
“I’m keen to not prove anything, but to play my brand of cricket and play well,” he said.
“Sometimes you can have too many people around you telling you this and that and that’s where it’s been great now, being able to work on the simple things with my cricket.”
“I’m trying to swing the ball, that’s obviously one goal, if I can swing that ball and be consistent doing that, it’d be great.”
“I haven’t tried to do too many things, just keep it simple, go back to basics and I’m just really enjoying my training.”
“It got to the stage I wasn’t enjoying it as much as I’d like and your performances suffer as a result of that.”
Although he hasn’t watched a lot of cricket during his time out of the game, Johnson did manage to see part of the vital first innings stand between Ryan Harris and Ben Hilfenhaus during the recent Barbados Test.
Harris and Hilfenhaus have both returned to the Test side in sparkling form following lengthy breaks from the international scene and their ability to rebound in the face of adversity provides some solace to Johnson as he continues to mount his comeback.
“It’s been outstanding, the guys how they’ve been performing,” he said. “That’s what we want to do, win Test cricket. We’re trying to get our way back to the number one spot.”
“Ben (Hilfenhaus) was written off, out of the game for 12 months, he was written off, everyone told him he wasn’t good enough and he’s worked really hard to get back to where he is and it does give guys like me hope to push for selection.”
“I’ve got to focus on what I need to do and whether it’s coming back at the start of the summer, playing cricket for WA and doing a job there, all I can do is the best job I can and get wickets.”
“I’m just like any other cricketer out there now, I’ve got to work my way back in. It’s never your spot. You’ve always got someone (there).”
“There’s guys out there playing good cricket, so I’ve just got to do the same, play my best cricket and hopefully that’s good enough.”
There’s little doubt 2009 saw Johnson at his devastating best and a return to anything like that kind of form should see him back in the frame for selection – but he says the key remains in finding consistency.
“That was my best year bat and ball, my most consistent year. The only thing that let me down was the Ashes and that wasn’t great,” he said.
“I guess I’m looked at as an aggressive bowler. I tend to get lumps of wickets or I don’t get many at all… more consistent cricket, I think that’s what I need to focus on.”
“Having this break now has given me a look, a different insight on the game and life, so I definitely think I’ve matured over time as a person and hopefully that goes into my cricket as well.”
But international selection or otherwise, Johnson believes he has plenty of cricket ahead of him – and a new, positive state of mind to go with it.
“I’m trying to play for another six, seven years,” he said. “Whether it’s international cricket or these other tournaments around, that’s my plan.”
“The break has freshened me up, mentally and physically, and I’ve been able to work on a few things I’ve wanted to whereas you can’t do that when you’re travelling around all the time.”
“I can’t be worried about what’s going to happen in the next six months. Whatever happens happens.”
“I used to be really frustrated with it because you think you’ve got no time in the game, but in the end I had that much time.”
“This has been a pretty important time for me, so whatever happens after this is out of my control, but I’ve got a good feeling about it so I’ve just got to keep working hard.”
“The guys are playing very well at the moment and I think that’s a good sign for us and the future of Australian cricket and hopefully I can be part of it.”
First published here.
Photo courtesy of Hamish Blair/Getty Images AsiaPac
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