The last Ashes series in Australia was a nightmare for the English batsmen, all thanks to fiery spells of fast bowling by Mitchell Johnson. Johnson picked up 37 wickets in the last Ashes on Australian soil and single-handedly won the Ashes for the Aussies. This time around the bowling reigns will be spearheaded by Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazelwood who are both returning to competitive cricket after an injury lay off.
The Australia Cricket Board on Friday announced a 13 men squad for the first two Tests and had picked the trio of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazelwood, and Pat Cummins to lead the Australian pace attack along with Nathan Lyon, who is the only genuine spinner in the squad. The Australian bowlers will be looking forward to repeating Mitchell Johnson’s heroics at the 2013/14 Ashes.
Ryan Harris who along with Peter Siddle saw Johnson create havoc from the other end in 2013 feels that Mitchell starc can repeat what Johnson achieved in the previous Ashes. Starc has picked up 17 wickets in two Sheffield Shield matches.
Harris said:
“He’s definitely got it in him. I’ve just spent some time with him. He’s bowling fast,” Harris told Reuters in an interview from Brisbane. He probably had a little bit of an issue over the last few months with not swinging the ball as much as he’d like. But giving him that red ball, he’s probably as consistent as I’ve seen him for a while as well. He’s got the pace of Johnson, he moves it both ways, exactly like Johnson does, and doesn’t even know he’s doing it. He’s also got that brutal yorker that he can pull out when he wants. So, I’d love to see that happen again, someone rip through the English again and put a bit of fear in the back of their minds.”
Harris was the second highest wicket-taker for the Australian team in that series picking up 22 wickets. Remembering the onslaught created by Johnson and the terror he saw in the eyes of the English batsmen,
“Once Mitch got on a roll it was very hard for them to stop him, “I reckon it put a little bit of fear in their minds and fair enough. It was bloody fast bowling. Fast bowling at it’s best. That was genuine pace and they had no way of combating it. Even talking to their old bowling coach (David Saker) who was there at the time, they just didn’t know how to stop the rot.”
He also said that the fast bowling trio worked as a team and helped each other to pick to create the pressure on the batsmen by bowling dot balls and take wickets at crucial stages of the game. Harris said,
“I remember Michael Clarke sitting the three of us down and telling us what he wanted of us, that he wanted us to be close to each other and talking to each other all the time about good and bad things, and how he wanted us to be a team within a team, For us, it wasn’t necessarily about taking wickets, it was about bowling dots (non-scoring deliveries) and putting pressure on at the other end,”
Pat Cummins recently said that he would like to emulate Johnson’s heroics in the previous home Ashes to which the former bowler cautioned the current lot to help each and not worry about the glory. He said,
“To be successful you’ve got to be prepared to bowl and not necessarily take the glory but just help your mate out down the other end, If they bowl in those partnerships, they’ll get the rewards. It is an exciting attack.”
Also Read:- Ashes 2017/18: Australia Announces Squad for First Two Tests