Cricket Australia’s selection committee chairman Rod Marsh has admitted he was tempted by the board to convince the recently retired quick Mitchell Johnson to fill the gap of injured Mitchell Starc in the Test matches.
Johnson announced his retirement after the W.A.C.A, Perth Test last month midway through the Commonwealth Bank three-match Test series against Trans-Tasman rival New Zealand. Australia have won the series 2-0.
Johnson hung his boots from all forms of the game as he lost his passion for the game since the Ashes urn loss to England in England.
But, Australia’s pace department is facing a problem before the start of the two-Test home series West Indies starting from December 10 as their frontline bowler Micthell Starc has been ruled out from the team with a stress fracture in his right foot for uncertain time. Starc bowled only nine overs in the first ever day-night Test at Adelaide oval last week.
Marsh revealed that he contemplated picking up the phone to check whether Johnson might make himself available.
However, the call was never placed, and the selectors instead have turned to James Pattinson, uncapped West Australia seamer Nathan Coulter-Nile and Victorian Scott Boland for the first Commonwealth Bank Test series against West Indies that starts in Hobart on Thursday.
“No … I thought about it,” Marsh said today when asked if he had made contact with 34-year-old Johnson to gauge his availability for the remaining three Tests of the current summer, which Starc will miss through injury.
“You’ve got to respect a bloke when he retires, you can’t … gee.
“There’s a reason he (Johnson) retired and that’s because he didn’t want to play anymore, so you don’t go there.
“It would have been nice but, wouldn’t it?”
Rod Marsh with Mitchell Johnson
