The Ashes 2013/14 - Statistical Analysis: Mitchell Johnson in Adelaide vs Brisbane

Fast and Furious – Mitchell Jonson adjusted his lengths at Adelaide and bowled further up than Brisbane to reap just rewards

Last week it was a bouncy wicket at Brisbane and this week a placid batting surface at Adelaide. Irrespective of the surface, Mitchell Johnson is causing major problems to the English batsmen. On day 3 of the 2nd Test match at Adelaide Oval, he ended up with figures of 7/40.

After the nasty bowling spell at Brisbane in the last Test match, the cricketing world was curiously waiting to see Johnson in action – to witness the tactics that he would employ against the English batsmen on Australia’s best batting surface.

The question was – would he be mature enough to adjust to drastically different surfaces or would he bowl his natural length i.e 8m ahead of batsmen, pitching it short, aiming at batsmen’s ribs?

On display was something special. He bowled it much fuller, getting batsmen to drive and occasionally bowled short to create the doubt in the batsman’s mind. He managed to get 7 wickets bowling this length, out of which 4 were bowled, 1 LBW, 1 caught in the slips and 1 by Haddin, the wicket keeper.

The flamboyant looking 32-year-old Johnson gives you a sense that he now understands his game really well. Ability of an individual to adjust to different conditions, to alter your game to suit the situation and yet perform is a sign of a world class professional, and Mitchell Johnson surely makes a strong case of being a world class bowler.

The style of cricket he plays would get kids to take note of Test cricket in this T20 era and remind other fans that this is why we loved the game in the first place – to watch players perform when TESTed.

The graphic below shows his comparison in length bowled at Brisbane and Adelaide. All his wickets were earned by bowling full length deliveries outside off stump, making batsmen drive.

Bowling length - 70% on full + good length at Adelaide compared to 57% at Brisbane.

Wickets - 7/7 on full + good length, compared to 4/9 at Brisbane.

If he manages to keep himself fit and away from injuries, batsmen – watch out!

Comparison of Mitchell Johnson’s bowling in Adelaide vs Brisbane