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The day Johnson almost punched KP

In an extract from his autobiography, former tearaway reveals how close he and enigmatic England batter were to brawling

Former Australia tearaway Mitchell Johnson has revealed he wanted to hit Kevin Pietersen after the ex-England star "crossed the line" during the first Test of the 2009 Ashes series.

The incident happened prior to play in Cardiff when both teams were warming up on the field and Pietersen was intentionally hitting balls in the Australians' direction in an effort to disrupt their preparation.

Johnson, who was at the time dealing with personal family matters off the field, said he had had enough of Pietersen's antics and confronted the rogue batsman face to face.

Image Id: BAB3A4C81ADE43C3A1A15A315D789A4C Image Caption: The Australians celebrate Pietersen's wicket at Cardiff in '09 // Getty


"Things got out of hand during the warm-up for the Test and what happened probably indicates where my head was at," Johnson wrote in his autobiography Resilient

"Kevin Pietersen is a guy who likes to stir things up and I can appreciate that.

"He knows how to get under people's skin and when we were bowling in the morning he played a few pull shots in our direction.

"It wasn't exactly harmless because we could easily have stood on a ball in our run-ups.

"I threw a ball back to where he was and I suggested he stop it. Of course, he didn't.

"When he hit another one towards me I kicked it as far as I could in the other direction.

"Words were exchanged and KP crossed the line in what he said.

Image Id: E5FEAE834BA54425AFEEBADA96E05842 Image Caption: Johnson celebrates Bopara's wicket in front of Pietersen at Cardiff in '09 // Getty


"He got really personal and I'm not going to dignify his comments by repeating them.

"The red mist descended and I stormed in his direction with every intention in the world of hitting him.

"This was all being played out in full view of spectators who had arrived early and the media.

"Stu Clark saw it all happen and came rushing over just as we came together and jumped between us.

"KP is a big guy, but I was very worked up.

"Fortunately, Stu is bigger than both of us because it took a bit to convince me not to go through with what I planned. I am so glad Stu was there."

Pietersen too might well be glad Clark was there.

"I have rarely had a fight in my life, but when I have had a chance to pull the gloves on I've loved it," continued Johnson.

"During the boot camp ahead of the 2006–07 Ashes series we had to get in the ring with a professional cage fighter.

"He was a scary bloke and I landed a couple of good hits. Hardly anyone else touched him.

"If KP and I had gone toe to toe, life might have taken another strange twist.

Image Id: 99FF08858C3F4AF2A50E5A36A2A3CF49 Image Caption: Johnson was one of the Australian team's fittest athletes // Getty 


"I was pretty disappointed with what he said and it stayed in the back of my mind after that.

"We had conversations off the field and he seemed okay, but I wouldn't say he was the sort of bloke I would ring up or send a text congratulating him on his career.

"There are limits to what you can say. I am sure everyone knows the line.

"You can't bring family or stuff like that into it and I am sure he knew he had gone too far, but he did it on purpose because he wanted to get me going."

The pair played 11 Ashes Tests against each other, and it was in their penultimate encounter when tempers flared for the final time - the Boxing Day Test of 2013-14.

"It was late on the third day that I lost it with KP," said Johnson.

"I was tired and hungry and can get a bit cranky when that happens.

"It was really windy and that can be irritating at the MCG. Rubbish blows around and it's quite hard to settle.

"It wasn't aimed at him, but it was a bit provocative. He said someone was moving behind the sight screen, but there is an exclusion zone a mile wide behind the wicket and batsmen get so bloody fussy.

"I let him know that at the time and when he got a single and came up my end I let him know again. It was pretty heated."

Image Id: 892F17EB456E4668B5A93D3BEBF51391 Image Caption: Pietersen and Johnson exchange words // Getty

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