Mitchell Johnson’s sudden retirement from international cricket was a massive shock to everyone associated with Australian cricket. It was an announcement, which very few saw coming. Australia’s head coach Darren Lehmann, in a recent media interaction, admitted that he wanted Johnson to continue in ODI’s. The primary reason behind that is likely to be the injury to Pat Cummins, and to manage the workload of talented pacer Josh Hazlewood.
“His mind was made up as soon as he spoke to Steven and myself after day three. He’d been thinking about it for a while, been talking about it in the media,” Lehmann said. “We spoke to him about maybe playing the one-dayers, we think that was a really good option for us to have that experience there. But he’s not into it, he’s not into the training anymore, he’s had enough and he just wants to sit at home and watch us play.”
“We’ve got a few injuries at the moment, with Harris and Johnson retiring and then you chuck in Pat Cummins injured at the moment,” Lehmann said. “We’ve got some depth in young kids, but these four Starc, Hazlewood, Siddle, Pattinson are prime bowlers for us and we’ve got to keep them on the park.”
Reflecting back on the Perth test, Lehmann said, “I certainly don’t think we’ve bowled as well as we should have.” “I said that after the first Test and then the second Test. We’re certainly batting well enough at the moment, so if we get the bowling right, and get the ball in the right areas and put a bit more pressure on them, not too many free balls, that might be a different story.”