Stats: Mitchell Johnson's Career in Numbers

Mitchell Johnson with the Ashes urn in 2014

International cricket shall see no more of Mitchell Johnson. In the Perth Test he had a return of 1/157 to show from the first innings – the 24th time in his career that he has conceded more than 100 runs in a Test innings. It can thus be said that he probably retired at the right time.

He said he feels that hunger for wickets and cricket no more and it is therefore better for him to say goodbye to the game he loved. He was certainly one of the most feared fast bowlers in the modern cricketing world and at his best, he was no less than a nightmare for even the best batsmen around the globe.

Even players with classical techniques like Graeme Smith, Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott had a difficult time against him. Upon his retirement, we take a look at some numbers from his career.

1 – Number of Australian player to take 300 wickets and score 2000 runs in test cricket before Mitchell Johnson. Mitchell Johnson scored 2065 test runs and took 313 test wickets in 73 tests. He reached this milestone in the 3rd Investec Ashes Test earlier this year at Edgbaston. Interestingly he started that test on 1999 runs and 299 wickets. He is only the 13th player in the world to achieve this feat.

24 – Number of test innings when Johnson conceded more than 100 runs. With 40 such instances, only Shane Warne stands above Mitchell Johnson. However, Johnson took almost half number of innings to reach 24 than Shane Warne did for his 40. Overall, Mitchell Johnson stands on 11th spot in this list,

2 – Number of left arm pacers who have taken more Test wickets than Mitchell Johnson. Wasim Akram with 414 and Chaminda Vaas 355 wickets are those two left-arm pacers.

12 – Number of 5-wicket hauls Johson got in Test Cricket, which is joint 3rd most along with Chaminda Vaas for any left arm fast bowler in test history. Wasim Akram (25) and Alan Davidson (14) are above Mitchell Johson in this list.

3 – Number of times Johnson took ten or more wickets in a test match – only Wasim Akram, with 5 such instances, stands above Mitchell Johnson in the list of left arm pacers with most 10 wicket hauls in a test match.

9 – Number of times Mitchell Johnson had dismissed Alastair Cook and Graeme Smith in Tests – most times he had got rid of any player.

12 players Mitchell dismissed 5 or more number of times belonged either to England (6) or South Africa(5). Only Dinesh Ramdin is an exception in this list of 12 batsmen.

3 – Number of Australian bowlers to have taken more wickets than Mitchell Johnson’s 313 wickets. Only Shane Warne (708), Glenn McGrath (563) and Dennis Lillee (355) have more wickets than Mitchell Johnson.

8-61 – The best bowling figures for a left arm pacer in a single test innings also belongs to Mitchell Johnson, which came against South Africa in the famous test match where South Africa chased down 414 runs. In fact, he is the only left arm pacer to take 8 wickets in a test innings. 15 times a left arm fast bowler has taken 7 wickets in a test innings but nobody else could not make it to 8 ever.

37 – Wickets taken by Mitchell Johnson in 2013-14 Ashes Series which are 2nd most for any pace bowler in an Ashes series of 5 matches, after 39 wickets of Sir Alec Bedser in 1953. Johnson’s average of 13.97 during that series is the best among any pace bowler in an Ashes series since 1979 and overall 3rd best (min 20 wickets).

30.5 – Johnson’s bowling strike rate in 2013-14 Ashes series, through the course of which he broke the 125-year record of Charlie Turner, (for pace bowlers in Ashes) who had taken wickets at a strike rate of 31.2 in 1888.

64 – Number of wickets Johnson had taken against South Africa since their return to tests in 1992, which is joint most for any fast bowler against Africans, alongwith Indian Javagal Srinath. James Anderson and McGrath with 57 each are next on this list.

80 – Wickets taken by Mitchell Johnson in 4th innings of a Test Match in 39 innings – the second most for any pace bowler after Glen McGrath’s 103 and overall 5th most.