Mitchell Johnson Was Even More Terrifying Against South Africa

I know this is sacrilege here because some of the quickest and best pacers have come out of the West Indies. But has there ever been one who have been so terrifying over so many consecutive games? I have seen many of the WI fast bowlers but I don't think I have seen anything like this current version of Mitchell Johnson.

Quote:If anything, Johnson was even more terrifying at Supersport Park than he was at any time during the Ashes series: bodies were battered, helmets were clanged, bats were broken, and blood was drawn. Batsmen who walked out to face the missiles that he consistently delivered at over 90 mph could be forgiven for thinking they had more to lose than just their wickets. They should probably have heeded the line that was added to a song in the musical “Old Miss Gibbs” that ran during the bodyline series of 1932-1933 as Harold Larwood threatened life and limb, and placed themselves in the firing line only “After kissing their wives, and insuring their lives.”

Australia would be a good team without Johnson, but with him bowling as he has done for the last six tests, they are simply unbeatable. The South African team has now been shaken and its confidence dented. Hopefully, they will not make the mistakes England did and seek to assign blame where none is warranted. If they are to come out of this series with any positive results a way has to be found to neutralize Johnson; and short of him falling over in a heap, or returning to his old wayward ways, there is hardly anything they can do.

The simple truth is that fast bowling, at its mightiest, is the most disruptive force in cricket, and we are all very fortunate to be currently witnessing some of the most ruthless and effective feats of fast bowling the game has seen. Nostalgia may impel us to recall the Bodyline series, or Tyson in Australia in 1954/55, or Lillee and Thomson’s fearful pounding of England and the West Indies in the mid seventies, or the famous four-pronged attacks that sprung from the Caribbean during the seventies and eighties, but it is difficult to see Johnson’s efforts lagging behind anyone in the game’s history.

Johnson Even More Terrifying Against South Africa

I've always believed Mitchell Johnson to be a deadly bowler, even when he's been woefully out of form. It's just that something about his action and run up is so menacing. Add to that the kind of pace he generates, and his great yorkers, and finally, the swing, and he can be almost unplayable. On helpful tracks, he can wreck pretty much any side, and even on flat decks, he is more than a handful! 

So let's just wait and see ..... it's been only one Test Match.

MJ according to Mark Nicholas has brought down quite a few careers in The Ashes "Jonathan Trott, Graeme Swann, Matt Prior, Andy Flower and Kevin Pietersen. It is quite a list that fell foul to the Mitchell Johnson effect.".... ...Cricinfo

Will be interesting to see the Steyn/Philander/Morkel effect on AUS !!! 

Mikey Holding is of the opinion that "We haven't seen too many people bowl with that sort of aggression and that sort of pace, and I think it's finding out some batsmen who have been quite comfortable over the past five or six years with the medium pacers they've had around.

"Dale Steyn has been quick ... but Johnson has exhibited a great deal more pace and a lot more aggression. Pace is the game changer. A lot of bowlers are brilliant, Glenn McGrath was a fantastic bowler, but he didn't have the effect this man is having. With that much pace it's all about 'this man can hurt me as well as get me out', and that changes the entire dynamic of the game." .... Source

[i]Waiting to see how he handles back-to-back series !!!  8)

there are no bodies trailing behind west indian pace because west indian pacers were focused around the wicket not bodies

there are suspicions in Johnson's sudden explosion of effectiveness as a pace bowler at 32 years of age..a time when he shud be winding down..pace and effectiveness he had suggested he was capable of only in glimpses previously

there has never been such intimations about any great fast bowler in the past.

I note what Johnson is doing but I am not in any way anything but sanguine about  it it, watchful, careful etc.  I will be judicious until we are clear about what is happening and it is in fact proved normal..a genuine physical extension of human capacity, for which Johnson must be respected

how is it that Johnson gets away with this anyway:

the rules of the game have been changed to limit and restrict this kind of bowling not so ::confused::

Quote:The simple truth is that fast bowling, at its mightiest, is the most disruptive force in cricket,

Vernon Philander BOWLED  Australia ALL OUT for 47 in a Test match !

get back to me when Medicare Mitch does that 

the need to make him pee into little bottles after every game now..freeze some for testing into the future when deh may be better able to tell what is what than they are currently