Johnson shakes off new ball snub

The frustration felt by Mitchell Johnson as the third Test fast forwarded into defeat, and exemplified by the 'long ball' he delivered from almost alongside the umpire, was more the result of his team's performance than the fact he was overlooked to open the bowling in England's second innings.

But Johnson, who broke the game briefly open on the second morning with two wickets in the course of one fire-breathing over, has admitted he was straining to get first crack at the England openers when they began their pursuit of a meagre victory total last Friday.

Watch: Johnson joins the 300 club in fine style

And it's only the experience and maturity that comes with being the leader of Australia’s re-cast seam attack that stopped him from venting his dissatisfaction to his skipper.

Now that Ryan Harris's chronic knee problems have forced him into retirement and Peter Siddle remains on the periphery despite being all-but unplayable at most training sessions, Johnson is the most experienced as well as the most successful pace bowler in the Test XI.

Indeed, his 69 Test appearances is more than double the cumulative tally of his three fellow seamers (Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Marsh) and his 301 career wickets is only 21 shy of the combined return of all 10 of his teammates in last week’s third Test.

Yet when England began their chase of 121 for victory on day three at Edgbaston, and despite having put the wind up the England top, middle and lower orders at Lord’s a fortnight earlier and in the first innings at Birmingham, Johnson remained a spectator for more than half an hour.

By which time England had reduced their deficit by almost half (47), and critics were querying the wisdom of captain Michael Clarke leaving his most potent, feared strike bowler out of the attack with so few runs up his sleeve.

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"I was really keen to get the new ball, but whatever is best for the team in those situations I’m happy with," Johnson said today, mixing candour with a hefty measure of diplomacy.

"It's something that I’ve become better at - not to become frustrated in those situations where sometimes I feel like I might be better suited (to bowling).

"But I have full trust in those guys, Starcy and Hazlewood, to do the job but I’m always prepared to bowl in any position.

"I think that’s something that I’ve adapted to very well in my Test cricket now."

Even though he is the senior bowler, Johnson lost his role as opening bowler in the second Test against the West Indies in Jamaica last June when Starc and Hazlewood were paired for the first time, and have remained Clarke’s preferred option ever since.

That is despite Johnson’s new-ball partnership with Harris – who was to have been a key element of the current Ashes defence until his knee troubles flared in the opening tour match at Canterbury – being the most potent that Australia have produced since the 19th Century.

In the 11 Tests they opened the bowling together, Johnson and Harris captured 113 wickets with a strike rate of a scalp every 42.67 deliveries.

That’s more regularly than the combinations widely regarded as Australia’s best in the post-war era – Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller (243 wickets with a strike rate of 62.18), Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson (148 at 53.81) and Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie (376 at 53.30).

As it stands, only the pairing of John (J.J) Ferris and Charles ('Terror') Turner that spanned eight matches from 1887 has proved more potent in Australia’s Test history – 104 wickets at a remarkable strike rate of 41.13.

Not only has Johnson, who did not bowl at yesterday's lengthy training session at Trent Bridge ahead of the fourth Test that begins on Thursday because he was "freshening up", accepted without public query his new role as first-change (or second change as he was behind Nathan Lyon last Friday).

Watch: Australia train at Trent Bridge for the first time

He has also made a conscious effort not to habitually revert to the searing, short-pitched deliveries that brought him such notoriety and success during the five-nil Ashes whitewash campaign of 18 months ago, and against England’s Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes in recent weeks.

"I feel like I've bowled a lot fuller this trip, I've been really happy with the way I've bowled generally," Johnson said today.

"I think because the ball has been swinging over here a lot more, I feel like I'm trying to get the ball up there a lot more often.

"I think Lord's is the only ground where I've had a real crack at it (bowling short), and those two short balls (that dismissed Bairstow and Stokes in the same over at Edgbaston).

"I feel like I've become a much smarter bowler and I feel like I've found a bit more consistency.

"(But) it's something I need to have a look at throughout this Test match (at Trent Bridge) and just keep that aggression."

An early assessment of the Trent Bridge pitch three days before the coin is tossed for the fourth Test showed it to be hard, well grassed and expected to be not dissimilar to the track prepared for the previous Test at Edgbaston.

Fine weather is forecast up until Wednesday evening, with the possibility of thunder storms on the opening day of the Test and more showers likely on Monday – should it become the first match of the series to find its way into a fifth day.

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An even greater frustration for the latest member of Test cricket’s 300-wicket club than not feeling the new ball in his hand has been the inconsistencies his team has produced, with a heavy loss in Cardiff followed by a thumping win at Lord’s and then a three-day humiliation in Birmingham.

But while the national selectors have already wrung landmark changes to try and insert some steel into the team’s spine and several others are facing sleepless nights heading into this week’s Test, Johnson dismisses suggestions the team is fractured and at odds.

"We are over in these conditions, it's an Ashes series and we've got some guys that are probably feeling the pressure a little bit," he said.

"I know what it's like when you first come over and experience it.

"There's been times in my career when I've felt that pressure a lot more, and the guys haven't been as happy at times. 

"But this group have been outstanding.

"We've had a couple of losses along the way in the last 12-18 months, but we've played good cricket. 

"Everyone's really happy and get along really well. 

"All the guys want to learn, they want to get better. 

"Even after a loss like that (at Edgbaston), the guys are still upbeat."

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