List of Pace Bowlers Who Would Perform Better than Mitchell Johnson for Australia

[Furball]

Bollinger.
Cameron pending fitness (ie. no).
Clark pending the existence of a time machine (ie. no).
Copeland and Butterworth pending team role/pitch conditions, but probably not overall.

The bloke bowls a lot of gash and can get hammered at times but he's got nearly 200 Test wickets @ 30 odd and hasn't exactly declined; he'd be the best bowler in most Test teams going around IMO despite his noted weaknesses and frustrating points. I think that's the key point with Johnson - he's extremely frustrating, which can always make fans under-rate you slightly.

Throw in his woes in and againt England (which tbf applies to the entire Australian attack.)

 

[Flem274*]

Jeetan Patel

Lets not get carried away here.

 

[tooextracool]

Bollinger.
Cameron pending fitness (ie. no).
Clark pending the existence of a time machine (ie. no).
Copeland and Butterworth pending team role/pitch conditions, but probably not overall.

The bloke bowls a lot of gash and can get hammered at times but he's got nearly 200 Test wickets @ 30 odd and hasn't exactly declined; he'd be the best bowler in most Test teams going around IMO despite his noted weaknesses and frustrating points. I think that's the key point with Johnson - he's extremely frustrating, which can always make fans under-rate you slightly.

The thing that I continually don't get here, is the idea that he is still doing okay. Here is a guy who is averaging 45ish from his last 11 tests, yet he's apparently the first bowler on the bowling team sheet. No team would be queuing up to accept that kind of mediocrity. It may seem hard to accept, but much like many a tiny handful of stars before him, he had a novelty factor being a slingy-low arm left handed bowler that most had never seen before. The problem is, that was the only thing he had going for him. Bowlers aren't that different from batsmen, sometimes they do get found out. Just ask Saqlain Mushtaq or Ajantha Mendis.

 

[centurymaker]

true.

 

[Cevno]

Sreesanth.

 

[weldone]

I'll be happy if Johnson is dropped for India's tour down under tbh.

 

[NUFAN]

Doug Bollinger 8

Mark Cameron 7 (loses .5 due to being injured all the time)
James Pattinson 7
Ben Hilfenhaus 7 (he's not that bad)
Patrick Cummins 7
Trent Copeland 7

Luke Butterworth 6.5
Peter George 6.5
Clint McKay 6.5
James Faulkner 6.5
Josh Hazlewood 6.5
Mitchell Starc 6.5
Ben Cutting 6.5
John Hastings 6.5 (vics are missing him heaps)

Jayde Herrick 6 (on the rise)
Nathan Coulter-Nile 6 (ditto)
Andrew McDonald 6
James Hopes 6

Mitchell Marsh 5.5
Michael Hogan 5.5

Scott Walter 5
Dan Christian 5
Cameron Gannon 5


Ryan Duffield 4.5
Gary Putland 4.5

Kane Richardson 4

Jake Haberfield 3
Brendan Drew 3

Stuart Clark n/a

Mitchell Johnson has to be a 7 too.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Sreesanth.

Now that is taking the piss.

 

[adub]

The thing that I continually don't get here, is the idea that he is still doing okay. Here is a guy who is averaging 45ish from his last 11 tests, yet he's apparently the first bowler on the bowling team sheet. No team would be queuing up to accept that kind of mediocrity. It may seem hard to accept, but much like many a tiny handful of stars before him, he had a novelty factor being a slingy-low arm left handed bowler that most had never seen before. The problem is, that was the only thing he had going for him. Bowlers aren't that different from batsmen, sometimes they do get found out. Just ask Saqlain Mushtaq or Ajantha Mendis.

+1 good post.

He's always bowled crud (with some very very rare days of wtf where did THAT come from), but early on heaps of bats chased his **** and got knicks or slashed it to point. That still happens (Amla), but far less often. He's been worked out long ago and no half decent bat gets out to him without extracting plenty of boundaries first. **** him off back to the Shield and ignore any good figures he takes there. His paper's need to be stamped and that's it, move on.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

The thing that I continually don't get here, is the idea that he is still doing okay. Here is a guy who is averaging 45ish from his last 11 tests, yet he's apparently the first bowler on the bowling team sheet. No team would be queuing up to accept that kind of mediocrity. It may seem hard to accept, but much like many a tiny handful of stars before him, he had a novelty factor being a slingy-low arm left handed bowler that most had never seen before. The problem is, that was the only thing he had going for him. Bowlers aren't that different from batsmen, sometimes they do get found out. Just ask Saqlain Mushtaq or Ajantha Mendis.

Bangladesh would have him. A pace bowler averaging 45 for them would be good. Shows how far he has slipped.

Like Harmison for England they have persevered too long in the vain hope he recaptures the form he had 3/4 years earlier. Get rid and move on.

 

[Viscount Tom]

Me, at least I think I can bowl pace.

 

[Midwinter]

When Johnson first played tests he always bowled 2 foot outside off stump .

He did it so consistently I concluded it must have been the plan to frustrate the batsman into having a wild swing at him.

It worked . Occassionally.

Then he started swinging the ball.

 

[Spark]

Worked bloody often, actually.

 

[karan316]

I think Johnson has proved himself at the international arena,
Its true that he has not been very consistent recently,but he is a fantastic bowler and can also make useful contributions with the bat in the lower order.
Can't just write him off like this. Maybe giving him a break to give him sometime to figure out what's going wrong can can be an option, but he will surely be back.

 

[Flem274*]

Nathan McCullum

 

[Furball]

I think Johnson has proved himself at the international arena,
Its true that he has not been very consistent recently,but he is a fantastic bowler and can also make useful contributions with the bat in the lower order.
Can't just write him off like this. Maybe giving him a break to give him sometime to figure out what's going wrong can can be an option, but he will surely be back.

Haha, I think that's the worst thing they could do. I think Johnson's major problem is that too many people analyse and over-analyse Johnson's bowling; he strikes me as a simple cricketer with a fairly simple MO - wang the ball down the other end as fast as you can. In hindsight I think suddenly discovering an inswinger and dominating South Africa in 2009 might be the worst thing that ever happened to his career.

 

[karan316]

Haha, I think that's the worst thing they could do. I think Johnson's major problem is that too many people analyse and over-analyse Johnson's bowling; he strikes me as a simple cricketer with a fairly simple MO - wang the ball down the other end as fast as you can. In hindsight I think suddenly discovering an inswinger and dominating South Africa in 2009 might be the worst thing that ever happened to his career.

I really don't think proven players should be replaced so easily, and if Johnson was a ''wang the ball other end as fast as you can'' kind of a bowler then he wouldn't have succeeded in the shorter formats at all. Giving him a break might give him a chance to know where he is going wrong, but just dropping him and writing him off would be unfair.

 

[Joao]

I really don't think proven players should be replaced so easily, and if Johnson was a ''wang the ball other end as fast as you can'' kind of a bowler then he wouldn't have succeeded in the shorter formats at all. Giving him a break might give him a chance to know where he is going wrong, but just dropping him and writing him off would be unfair.

I am sorry but no. I think we Australians have suffered enough and I no longer care for his feelings, he's got to go.

I don't think you need time away to realise that not being able to land the ball in the same spot twice in an over or keep the seam upright is where you are going wrong. He is 30 and if he ain't got it now there is no reason to think it will suddenly come to him. Imagine what he be like in a few years when he can only bowl 135 tripe instead of 145 tripe.

1 excellent game every 12 months does not warrant selection over 15 bad tests anywhere anytime.

I'd lick my lips if I saw his name on New Zealand or India's team sheets this summer - WACA aside but that could have just been a fluke.

No more MIDGE!

 

[Eloquentia]

Doug Bollinger 8

Mark Cameron 7 (loses .5 due to being injured all the time)
James Pattinson 7
Ben Hilfenhaus 7 (he's not that bad)
Patrick Cummins 7
Trent Copeland 7

Luke Butterworth 6.5
Peter George 6.5
Clint McKay 6.5
James Faulkner 6.5
Josh Hazlewood 6.5
Mitchell Starc 6.5
Ben Cutting 6.5
John Hastings 6.5 (vics are missing him heaps)

Jayde Herrick 6 (on the rise)
Nathan Coulter-Nile 6 (ditto)
Andrew McDonald 6
James Hopes 6

Mitchell Marsh 5.5
Michael Hogan 5.5

Scott Walter 5
Dan Christian 5
Cameron Gannon 5


Ryan Duffield 4.5
Gary Putland 4.5

Kane Richardson 4

Jake Haberfield 3
Brendan Drew 3

Stuart Clark n/a

Mitchell Johnson has to be a 7 too.

Incredibly stiff on Richardson and Duffield IMO

 

[karan316]

I am sorry but no. I think we Australians have suffered enough and I no longer care for his feelings, he's got to go.

I don't think you need time away to realise that not being able to land the ball in the same spot twice in an over or keep the seam upright is where you are going wrong. He is 30 and if he ain't got it now there is no reason to think it will suddenly come to him. Imagine what he be like in a few years when he can only bowl 135 tripe instead of 145 tripe.

1 excellent game every 12 months does not warrant selection over 15 bad tests anywhere anytime.

I'd lick my lips if I saw his name on New Zealand or India's team sheets this summer - WACA aside but that could have just been a fluke.

No more MIDGE!

He will be back for sure, he hasn't been up to the mark recently,
and I know Ryan Harris is a better bowler at the moment,
but Johnson is also a very important part of the Australian fast bowling department,
he is ranked number 9 in tests and number 3 in ODIs (ahead of any other aussie bowler both in tests and ODIs), he is just 3 points away from becoming the number 1 ODI bowler, he isn't doing so bad, its just the media and fans who are creating a huge fuss about the issue, he is just a bit out of form at the moment, nothing else.