The Mitchy Files

When a batsman is underperforming the media whips out the stats to highlight the form slump. But, for some reason, we aren’t often given this insight for a bowler.

Despite playing a wonderful batting hand to guide Australia home in the 2nd test against South Africa, Johnson will still be struggling to hold his test position come the announcement of the side to take on the Kiwis, commencing Thursday week. While Johnson’s batting is an added bonus to the team, his role is the take wickets – which have eluded him of late.

Mitchell bowled 62 overs during the 2 test series in South Africa. And of the 32 wickets Australia took throughout the series, the supposed senior bowler only managed 3 of those wickets, for an average of 85. In Sri Lanka he only managed 6 wickets in 3 tests at an average of 52.16.

When it comes to averages, 30 is generally considered the point to be below if you want to be talked about as a ‘good’ test bowler. “Notch” has not averaged less than 30 in a series since March last year, and it was against New Zealand.

If we take a look at his career, Johnson only averages less than 30 in Australia and New Zealand. South Africa is the next closest at 34. His career average is above that 30 mark: 31.29.

There are more telling signs to Johnson’s form than just figures. The broadcasters of the test against South Africa brought up an astonishing graphic which compared Johnson’s point of release throughout the current series to that of the 2009 Ashes series (he took 20 at 32.55). It clearly showed that Johnson’s release point had fallen considerably. Such a clear mechanical deficiency is a huge worry and obviously it isn’t something that is just going to all click back into place during the course of a match.

Apart from this, the majority of his deliveries look a shade of his explosive best to the naked eye.

There is a long line of promising fast bowlers waiting for a crack at test cricket. While I don’t believe Johnson’s career is up, it is time for him to return to shield cricket to focus on repairing what has gone wrong with his action. If he can do this and take bags of wickets for Western Australia he may one day return to the test side better than ever. But for now the selectors need to realise that there is no place for him in the side.