Mitchell Johnson reveals how England fans' taunts in past Ashes defeats dented his confidence
Australia fast bowler Mitchell Johnson has admitted the jibes he’d received from England fans during successive Ashes series defeats had dented his often fragile confidence.
But as he prepared for another clash with the old enemy in the fifth and final one-day international at Old Trafford here yesterday, the erratic 30-year-old left-arm paceman insisted he no longer carried any mental scars.
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Mitchell Johnson during the 2010-11 Ashes Test in Sydney. PIC/AFP
The taunts from the ‘Barmy Army’, an England supporters group, became especially wounding during England’s triumphant Ashes tour of 2010-11, with Johnson hearing repeated chants of: “He bowls to the left, he bowls to the right, that Mitchell Johnson, his bowling is s***.”
“I think back then I let it affect me a lot,” Johnson said at Old Trafford here on Monday.
“It’s hard not to when that’s all you can hear in the cricket ground — your name being sung, and the songs are very catchy.
“I was at that point in my career where I was letting things get to me — it was not necessarily just the crowd, it was everything.”
However, Johnson — for whom this short tour has been a first taste of international cricket in seven months following a toe injury in South Africa — added: “But I’ve pushed on past that.
Barmy Army sing their Mitchell Johnson song during the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney on January 5, 2011. PIC/Getty Imagesu00a0
“I’ve learned to deal with it and I look at it as a reflection of my performances — they are threatened by me a little.
“I’ve had some pretty good performances against England in the past.”
England though are already a series-winning 3-0.
Johnson has featured in just one match this series, a six-wicket defeat at The Oval, where a return of none for 43 in seven overs included several no-balls.
Johnson’s injury in South Africa came at a low point in his career when he’d taken just 13 wickets in six Tests at an expensive average of 57 in 2011.
“I just wasn’t sure where I was going,” Johnson said. “If I hadn’t got the injury and let’s just say I got picked on the next trip — because there was concern that I wasn’t going to get picked — I don’t think anything would have changed in my performances.”
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