On This Day, November 2: Mitchell Johnson was born today; aged 17 was detected to be the greatest player ever by legend Dennis Lillee, who commented ‘at this speed of cricket. He surpassed a Test feat of Australia in making their fourth fast bowler that had to make above a hundred left-hand bowler wickets.
Career-Defining Moment!
His defining moment came during the 2013-14 Ashes series in Australia, where he confirmed himself as one of the most intimidating bowling crickets has ever witnessed. Australia dominated the match and whitewashed 5-0 the matches played in England but it was during the Adelaide test during the second which ensured that his position was fixed in history forever.
On that match day, he threw a jaws-dropping performance taking five wickets for just 16 runs off five overs immediately after lunch leaving England completely perplexed.
Throughout the Ashes series, Johnson ended with an incredible 37 wickets with a mind-boggling average of 13.97. He did not allow his good work to get overboard during the following series against South Africa also as he took 12 wickets in Centurion and ended the three-Test series with a total of 22 wickets.
Mitchell Johnson retired from international cricket in 2015 leaving a spate of fearsome bowling and some remarkable statistics including:
Total Test Wickets: 313
Best Bowling Figures in an Innings: 8/61
Career Bowling Average: 28.40
On his birthday, we remember the great contribution he made to Australian cricket and his place as one of the game’s great left-arm quicks.
