Had things worked out differently, Mitchell Johnson could well have been dodging bullets in Afghanistan rather than firing the opening salvo of the Ashes against England
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Mitchell Johnson was close to joining the army
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Had things worked out differently, Mitchell Johnson could well have been dodging bullets in Afghanistan rather than firing the opening salvo of the Ashes against England.
It was a decade ago that the 27-year-old was first spotted at a bowling academy in Brisbane, where former Test pace great Dennis Lillee hailed the youngster as a "once-in-a-lifetime prospect".
The Queensland native, though, knows full well his life could have been so different.
"I grew up in Townsville, which had an army barracks there," he recalled. "When I left High School, I had around half-a-year out and a lot of my mates were joining the army.
"I was close to joining up as well. But then the opportunity came to go down to a fast-bowling clinic, where Dennis found me.
"There was a fair bit of luck in it, to be honest because if I had not gone to that camp, then I probably would have been in the army."
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