Mitchell Johnson – The Potential Allrounder
I think the one thing that Aussies have missed since the good old days of Simon O’Donnell and yeah Steve Waugh, Mark Waugh where Aussies had good all-rounders. All-rounders are such an important part of the game these days and probably the best all-rounder the Aussies recently had was Adam Gilchrist who brought the new term of wicket-keeping batsman as an all-rounder.
However, other than the big hold that Warne & McGrath have left, the Aussies have felt the gap of that solid all-rounder. Symonds has been a part time bowler but with his antics on and off the field, he is no longer the reliable no.6 the Aussies had hoped for.
However, we witnessed one of the best innings by a no.9 one could ever see on the 1st day of this ongoing Aus vs SA test match. Mitchell Johnson scored 96 to save a reeling Australia from 296 for 7 to a much respectable 466. He then came on to bowl the SA out for 220 by taking 4 wickets.
Even though SA came back stronger bowling by taking the last 8 Aussie wickets in the second innings for just 70 runs, the game is not over. SA now need 276 on a longer last day with 98 overs with 8 wickets in hand. The pundits would count on SA to finish it off by tea but the Aussies would be counting on the confidence of Mitchell Johnson to do something magical.
Anyway, its day of good cricket ahead but back to something on Johnson. He averages above 30 while batting and below 30 while bowling which are some quality numbers of an all-rounder. I think Aussies should groom him for as no.6 spot as he did show potential. Handled the pressure well, put his head down, believed in his abilities and played some good cricketing shots. I wouldn’t over-rate or under-rate him at the moment as personally I had not really been impressed with him until recently.
However, he can become special by doing dual roles of an allrounder. I am keeping my eyes on this lad.
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He does have a good potential in his batting and sadly they are not taking advantage of it. Why does Lee always feature before him?
I guess now that he is coming on his own, showing that he is way better than the rest, it is only a matter of time when he gets a bigger clout to influence things in the team.
@scorpicity
I think things are going to change a bit for the best. He showed some typical Aussie guts which we have seen from them in the past. BTW Welcome here…hope to see you here more often.
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