Johnson reaches 300 Test wickets

Mitchell Johnson has become the fifth Australian to claim 300 Test wickets, reaching the milestone against England on day two of the third Test at Edgbaston.

Recap & highlights: Mitch sparks Aussies on day two

Johnson dismissed Jonny Bairstow with a thunderous short-ball to reach the landmark with his third ball of the morning, and followed it up two balls later in similar fashion to remove Ben Stokes and shoot to 301.

The 33-year-old needed just the one wicket leading into the third Test to join Shane Warne (708), Glenn McGrath (564), Dennis Lillee (355) and Brett Lee (310) in the exclusive club.

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Johnson is the only left-arm bowler member in the 300 club, and with a strike-rate of 51, the Townsville product is the most venomous in terms of balls per wicket.

England captain Alastair Cook  and former South Africa skipper Graeme Smith have been his favourite targets, dismissing the pair of southpaws on nine occasions, while Ian Bell, Hashim Amla and JP Duminy have fallen seven times to the lethal pace ace.

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Johnson gets Smith with this brute of a ball in 2014

No country has suffered more against the blinding pace and awkward trajectory of Johnson than England, who have lost 81 wickets at 25. South Africa (64 wickets at 26) and India (50 wickets at 37) have been his second and third preferred opponents.

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Johnson en route to taking six wickets against England in 2010

On his way to 300, Johnson passed Bupa Support Team bowling coach Craig McDermott, who back in May said he couldn’t wait to see the left-armer break through the 300 Test wickets barrier.

“I’d like to see him get to 300 really quickly because that means we’re winning Test matches,” McDermott told cricket.com.au.

“It will be a fantastic thing to have Mitch go past me to his 300.

“Three-hundred is a magic milestone for any fast bowler and particularly someone who’s bowled as fast as he has to get there.

“And let’s not forget his batting record is pretty good as well.“

It’s been a rollercoaster ride for the muscular paceman.

Coming into the Test team as legends Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden were gone or going, Johnson gave Australian fans hope the transition would be smooth with a superb start to his career in the creams.

Johnson’s early career had an Asian flavour to it, debuting in the two-Test series against Sri Lanka in in November 2007 and facing India home and way in eight of his next 11 matches.

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Johnson's six-wicket haul against New Zealand in Hamilton, 2010

Twelve months after accepting his Baggy Green from McGrath in Brisbane, Johnson claimed his maiden five-wicket haul against New Zealand at the Gabba, and two Tests later the slinging southpaw captured 11 wickets against the mighty South Africans in Perth, including a career-best 8-61.

Australia lost the three-Test series at home against the Proteas but exacted revenge a month later as Johnson’s brutal best was too much to handle, ripping out the hosts’ top order in Johannesburg, breaking captain Graeme Smith’s hand and leaving supreme allrounder Jacques Kallis bloodied from a rearing bouncer. 

Johnson was also unstoppable with the bat that series, scoring his maiden Test match century in Cape Town on his way to his first International Cricket Council Player of the Year gong in 2009.

But later that year the wheels fell off for the enigmatic Johnson. Troubles at home and with his volatile action led to a wayward display at Lord’s in the Ashes, and despite finishing with 20 wickets for the series, Johnson’s meteoric rise flat-lined in the space of five Tests.

A return to form in March 2010 accounted for 10 Black Caps wickets in Hamilton, but by the time England had arrived Down Under later that year, Johnson’s demons returned.

A severe toe injury in South Africa in November 2011 sidelined the hulking quick for a year, a time that allowed him to step out of the spotlight, tinker with his action and clear his mind.

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Mitch Johnson roaoring in is certainly a sight to behold

The absence was a blessing, as a refreshed Johnson returned with a remodelled action and a new focus that was put to the Test against familiar foes the Proteas in 2012, and then Sri Lanka, where he played as an allrounder in the last Test of the summer in Sydney.

Johnson was one of four squad members, along with Shane Watson, James Pattinson and Usman Khawaja to be suspended in the Homework saga in Mohali in March 2013 and missed selection for the Ashes series in England that year.

Blistering form in one-day international cricket and in the Bupa Sheffield Shield forced the national selectors to pick Johnson for the 2013-14 Ashes series in Australia, where he re-wrote the record books in an utterly destructive display of fast bowling, taking 37 wickets in five Tests at 13.97 apiece.

Who would have thought a little facial hair could have made such a big difference? Watch as Mitchell Johnson and his mo clean up England, collecting 37 wickets on his way to the Compton Miller medal

Johnson proved the Ashes summer was no fluke in the series thereafter, dismantling South Africa in centurion with 12 scalps in a man-of-the-match performance to seal his second ICC Player of the Year gong and cement his reputation as one the game’s fiercest fast bowlers.

“He’s an unbelievable athlete and a really important player, (and) he copes with the pressure that  (responsibility) brings really well now, certainly better than he has in the past, and that might be because he’s really settled off the field – that’s important to him and us,” Lehmann said in the Daily Mail.

“He’s also really good with the young players and leads from the front in everything he does.

“He’s a fantastic guy. He came back into the set-up a couple of years ago when he missed the 2013 Ashes but played beautifully in the one-day series that followed.

“He’s got his mojo back and he’s exciting.”

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Johnson was a menace in Australia's big win at Lord's in the second Test

Johnson’s top five

8-61 v South Africa, Perth 2008

7-40 v England, Adelaide, 2013

7-68 v South Africa, Centurion, 2014

6-38 v England, Perth 2010

6-73 v New Zealand, Hamilton 2010

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