Mitchell Johnson

Mitchell Johnson

Australia

Full name Mitchell Guy Johnson
Born November 2, 1981, Townsville, Queensland
Current age 25 years 119 days
Major teams Australia, Queensland
Nickname Midge, Notch
Batting style Left-hand bat
Bowling style Left-arm fast-medium
Height 1.89 m

Statsguru

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
ODIs	18	6	2	29	15	7.25	38	76.31	0	0	2	1	3	0
First-class	20	27	9	435	54	24.16			0	3			2	0
List A	41	16	7	127	27	14.11	199	63.81	0	0			6	0
Twenty20	3	1	0	5	5	5.00	4	125.00	0	0			0	0

Bowling averages

	Mat	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4	5	10
ODIs	18	816	725	26	4/11	4/11	27.88	5.33	31.38	2	0	0
First-class	20	3397	1859	67	6/51		27.74	3.28	50.70	3	2	1
List A	41	2088	1759	56	4/11	4/11	31.41	5.05	37.28	4	0	0
Twenty20	3	54	54	2	1/9	1/9	27.00	6.00	27.00	0	0	0

Career statistics
ODI debut	New Zealand v Australia at Christchurch - Dec 10, 2005
Last ODI	New Zealand v Australia at Hamilton - Feb 20, 2007
First-class span	2001/02 - 2006/07
List A span	2003/04 - 2006/07
Twenty20 span	2005/06 - 2006/07

Notes

Australia Under-19s
Australia A, 2005-06

Profile

Mitchell Johnson is Australia's most exciting fast-bowling prospect since Brett Lee first dyed his roots. He's quick, he's tall, he's insanely talented, but most of all, he's a left-armer. Only the digging up of a blond legspinner can create more excitement in an Australian cricket scene that has had just two of this style of diamond - Alan Davidson and Bruce Reid - pass 100 Test wickets. Picked in the one-day side on promise - his best first-class figures after 12 first-class games were 5 for 43 - Johnson's future depends on whether he can stay fit and keep taking the big wickets.

Dennis Lillee fell hard and instantly when he spotted him as a 17-year-old at a Pace Australia camp and called him "a once in a generation bowler". Lillee immediately phoned Rod Marsh, who was then the Australian Academy head coach, and Johnson was quickly headed to Adelaide and the national under-19 team. Injuries, mostly to his back, kept interrupting his long-term plans but he played a full season in 2004-05 and was a fixture with Queensland a year later after being picked for Australia A's tour of Pakistan. Another representative catapult arrived in December 2005 when Trevor Hohns launched him into the Australian one-day squad for the final match of the Chappell-Hadlee Series.

Johnson's domestic highlight came when he followed the Bulls' 6 for 900 declared in the 2005-06 Pura Cup final with 6 for 51 and ten for the match to mop up a demoralised Victoria. "What a performance on a flat wicket," his captain Jimmy Maher said. The display cemented a spot on the Bangladesh tour and when he came back he was given a full Cricket Australia contract only two years after driving a delivery truck and considering walking away from the game because of his fourth back stress injury. On trips to Malaysia and India Johnson showed his capabilities with a series of big wickets, including Tendulkar, Dravid, Lara and Pietersen, and he spent the season as Australia's Test 12th man before earning regular one-day spells and a World Cup place.

At 189cm, he has the height to worry batsmen and is intent on scaring them as well. Shane Watson, his Queensland team-mate, has been impressed. "He has just about the most talent I've ever seen in an all-round athlete and I've only seen him playing cricket. If he can keep improving the sky's the limit."