Top 3 Ashes spells of the 21st century

Mitchell Johnson, 7/40 at Adelaide Oval, 2013

Johnson was at his fearsome best in the series.

Mitchell Johnson was the chief destroyer in England's 'Mission Ignominy' in the Ashes 2013 Downunder. He wreaked havoc on the English throughout the scope of the five games but his bizarre spell in the Adelaide Oval will forever be remembered as one of the nastiest spells ever bowled in the history of the competition.

The mustachioed monster unleashed terror on a fragile-looking English line-up that fell like a house of cards. He opened his account with an absolute jaffa to the English skipper, knocking over his off-stump with a vicious out-swinger. This was followed by a bit of a silent period for the big pacer but he was always going to come back steaming.

Johnson kept assaulting with some old school chin music before he rapped Stokes right in front of the wickets and it was adjudged LBW on review. The left-armer was in no mood of hanging around as he ran through the English lower order and shattered it off by sending Jimmy Anderson's middle stump cartwheeling via a thunderbolt that was clocked at staggering 150-plus kilometres per hour.

Johnson went on to scalp 37 wickets in the five-match series at an unreal average of 14. It was sweet vengeance for the pacer after being severely booed and jeered when he accompanied the Australian squad for their Ashes campaign in England a couple of years earlier. At that speck of time, Johnson had admitted that the Barmy Army had gotten to his head and had a corrosive impact.