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After an inconsistent career, Johnson's struggles in the New Zealand series are apparently indicative of terminal decline.

There have been some significant highs, including devastating performances with bat and ball in South Africa (twice), Man of the Series performance in the Ashes 2013-14 and a World Cup Winner's medal in 2015. But I think there will remain thoughts of promise unfulfilled - while devastating on the hard, bouncy pitches of Australia and South Africa he never mastered Asia, and his performances in England were also fairly ordinary. I remember reading that he never enjoyed touring - that cannot have helped.

In the end, I think he will be remembered as a good bowler, who had some amazing series, but not a great one.

I guess now he can play a bit of T20. I hope he plays on for a bit in the Sheffield Shield. They'll be very strong with him in their ranks. A good player, who did claim 300 Test wickets and 2 WC medals, he didn't quite reach the expectation placed on his shoulders by the great DK Lillee.

from_the_stands wrote:I guess now he can play a bit of T20. I hope he plays on for a bit in the Sheffield Shield. They'll be very strong with him in their ranks. A good player, who did claim 300 Test wickets and 2 WC medals, he didn't quite reach the expectation placed on his shoulders by the great DK Lillee.

The announcement says he's retiring from all first class and international cricket. Likely to be a T20 mercenary for a couple of years.

Technically he did win two WC medals as he was in the 2007 squad, but it doesn't really count, because he didn't actually play in a single match.

The Australian test team that starts 2016 will be unrecognisable from the 2015 one. Harris, Haddin, Clarke, Rogers, Watson and Johnson all gone this year - the Ponting/Clarke era is well and truly over. Siddle is probably the last one left who can be considered 'old guard', and I'm not sure how much longer he has in him.

Great player on his day, just wished he had a few more of them. A test strike rate of 51 suggest he was more than capable. He leaves the game with 587 international wickets

Great that he came back after the trouble he had and you always felt that something would happen when he had the ball. Very entertaining to watch.

He was better than most, but as FTS says never lived up to the reputation that Lillie gave him as a once in a generation talent. He showed he could have been that bowler on occasions, but was never consistent enough.

Probably retiring after seeing what has become of the WACA during this test

Quite a character was Mitch.


Not totally unexpected this news.


We'll miss him.

I remember him first from an ODI v South Africa, when he was, with Mick Lewis, one of the new wave of pace bowlers coming along after Glenn McGrath. He made you lean forward in interest, as he had that special something. His arm was higher then, he was bowling with real pace, and swung the ball, while finding bounce. Then he seemed to fade away for a while, and it took time for him to be established. Perhaps he never was, until the last period of his career.

Curiously, although Mitch's strongest period came at the end of his career, he is seen as someone who never made the most of himself. But surely he did, eventually. He stopped being a the classical bowler he was at first. In the end he became one of those bumble bee bowlers; it shouldn't work, but somehow it does. And he gave back to the game that physical threat, last seen from the West Indies quartet.

Some are saying that he didn't recover from the effect the death of Phil Hughes had on Aussie cricket, and the sense of doubt it might have brought to a (now) uniquely intimidating bowler. Which speaks of sensitivity and conscience. Unexpectedly, he became an admired performer for England cricket fans for his omnipotent redemption in 2013-4. And he was respected for his subsequent star bowling in South Africa, in a period where he challenged Dale Steyn as the world's best fast bowler.

Unfortunately, words like sporadic and mercurial will be used when talking about Mitch1's career. The only level of consistency about his performance on the pitch was it's inconsistency and unpredictability.

At his best, he was the best bowler I have seen. Intimidated the opposition like no single bowler I can remember - as well as cleaning them up. At his most erratic, he was a danger to his own team, sapping their confidence and building the opposition's. The good certainly outweighed the bad, but hasn't wiped it from memory.

Quite a shy and humble man (by appearances) who seems to be genuinely liked and respected by all that he played with and against (maybe not Jimmy Anderson, but he wouldn't be alone there).


As Aidan says, we'll miss him. How much his team misses him on the pitch remains to be seen.

Mitch1

says it all.

who will be Mitch1 now?

no point in having a Mitch2 or Mitch3, without a Mitch1

They can retire the 1 in his memory.

Durhamfootman wrote:no point in having a Mitch2 or Mitch3, without a Mitch1

It's all Mitch of a Mitchness.

yuppie wrote:
Probably retiring after seeing what has become of the WACA during this test

ABC in Australia interviewed Ryan Harris and asked whether this was a factor, and Rhino said quite bluntly 'yes, the pitches are crap now, and unless they sort it out pronto they will have a bowler exodus from the national side' - words to that effect, anyway.

Durhamfootman wrote:Mitch1

says it all.

who will be Mitch1 now?

He is Mitch 1, always has and always will be