Mitchell Johnson happy with swing assistance after striking fear into England batsmen yet again

Mitchell Johnson is mobbed by his teammates after accounting for Joe Root during the second day of the Lord’s test

Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson expressed happiness at the swing he was able to get from the Lord’s pitch, but added that he felt he had been bowling the same for a long time, ESPNcricinfo reports. Johnson bowled a short yet fiery spell on Friday which accounted for two of the four wickets that fell – Gary Ballance and the dangerous Joe Root.

"The ball has been swinging over here which has been amazing. When the ball is swinging at good pace it makes it more difficult,” he said.

The 33-year-old said he wasn’t overly thrilled with his performance as he has been feeling good about his bowling ever since the 2013-14 Ashes Down Under. Johnson went into that series as the 'butt of all jokes' but ended up as England's chief tormentor picking up 37 wickets in the five Test matches.

The paceman bowled a similar spell to the one yesterday on the second day of the 1^st Ashes Test at Brisbane that eventually set the tone for the rest of the series. Johnson says that he has been in good rhythm ever since.

"I've felt like the 2013-2014 me since that day really," he said alluding to that day in of Brisbane. "Nothing has changed for me. I feel like since then I've bowled really well throughout that period. There has been times where I've been a bit flat maybe and haven't bowled 150 clicks but I'm still trying to hit the wicket hard and bowl a good rhythm.”

“I don't feel like a lot has changed for me, to be honest. You come up in different conditions against different players. The thing that I enjoyed about my training here was I was able to get out there in the middle and bowl a fair bit. I did that the other day and that gave me a lot of confidence coming into this Test,” Johnson said referring to the Cardiff test.

Johnson discusses the conditions at Lord’s

Coming into the Lord’s Test, the paceman didn’t have fond memories of his previous performances here. In the 2009 series, he was taken apart by the English batsmen as he conceded runs at more than run a ball in the first innings, while he didn’t make it to the touring party three years later.

"Knowing that I've done the work and I've bowled here - yeah it probably wasn't my best performance but I've grown a lot since then and I've bowled on a lot of different wickets that haven't suited my bowling. I felt like I bowled well in the first Test so I wasn't thinking about anything else but going out there and doing the best job that I can for my country. It's nice to have those runs on the board when you go out there as a bowler. It definitely helps with the confidence side of things."

Johnson said that the bowlers should be capable of adjusting their line and length once the swing assistance stops.

"I find that in these conditions here, the overcast conditions, the ball definitely swings. But also we were able to use the slope as well. I know when I went out there to bat today and Mark Wood was bowling, the ball wasn't swinging but just going down that slope … it felt like it was a bit different to a normal wicket. Once that ball stops swinging for us, we've got to be smart and use the slope,” he said.

Johnson expresses confidence in Australia’s chances

Johnson said that he wasn’t worried about talks of a batting wicket after seeing the English bowlers struggling to pick up wickets.

"You've always got to be confident that you can get something out of the wicket. I wasn't concerned about seeing all the runs that were scored. When you do see runs on the board it does give you confidence as a bowling group. We had a few overs at them so we were just out there to try and get a few quick wickets. We were able to do that.

Johnson felt he and his teammates bowled well as a team in the 29 overs they got to bowl yesterday.

“I don't think we bowled well in partnerships throughout that first Test," he said. "That's what the difference probably was, here we were able to work together as a team and get the ball up there nice and full and straight. I guess when there's a few runs on the board it gives the team a bit of confidence and we were able to go out there and play aggressive cricket, which is the way we normally play.”

“We were hoping they were going to come out and play their aggressive brand that they've been talking about," the Aussie said. "We hope they come out tomorrow and do the same thing. Stokes is a very aggressive player anyway. We'd like to see him play some shots tomorrow morning and hopefully we can get a couple of quick wickets in the morning.

"It's day two, there's a lot of hard work in this Test for us. We're one-nil down in the series but we've definitely got that confidence at the moment with the runs and a few early wickets but we just need to keep working hard at it," Johnson rounded off.