Posted by Michael Clarke concluded early on in his tenure that his man management of Mitchell Johnson would involve unconditional love, no matter what the tufty-haired purveyor of left-arm ineptitude did with the ball.
Johnson hasn’t taken many wickets recently, but Clarke’s been steadfast in his support. Someone should tell him he can give it a rest now.
Johnson is expected to have surgery on his left big toe this week and is likely to be out of action for about five months.
Seemingly engaging ‘mindless support mode’, Clarke said:
“I think it could have a good impact on him. It will give him more time away from the game to clear his head and get himself fit and strong.”
For once, we’ve got some sympathy for Johnson, because the poor sod’s already at a low ebb and is now going to miss basically a whole season. However, the idea that sitting on his arse with his foot in the air for half a year will somehow improve him as a bowler isn’t all that convincing.
35 wickets in the last 18 months, at an average of 45, but injuries aside would have been a shoo-in for selection because “he has match-winning potential, and you never know when he might turn it on”.
This is a policy that could have come straight from the English Book of International Cricket, 1995 edition. Add in the fact that the entire Australian cricket establishment has to be mobilised to give him public support during an Ashes series to save him from being psychologically torn to shreds by the opposing crowd, and the Mitchell Johnson farce is complete. He is a chimera, but instead of lion, goat and snake, his constituent parts are Devon Malcolm, Derek Pringle and Phil Tufnell. (*)
More power to Clarke’s elbow. I’m right behind him on this one.
(*) For control, scariness and mental toughness respectively.
Belter Bert. One of the best.
Dear CA / Captain Clarke,
Don’t mind these arm-chair-critics and keyboard-warriors, you are on the right path. Please continue do whatever it takes to ensure MJ is in the Aus team for next Ashes. And the next. And the next …
Quite – Mitch has been a seriously great servant of cricket – specifically English cricket – and long may it continue
He was especially helpful in convincing Jimmy Anderson to get Brad Haddin out. Lovely bloke.
always looked like duckula to me
@Bert – isn’t it amazing how Australia seemed to have turned into the England of old?
Clarke’s support of Brad Haddin, despite his utter crapitude and the fact that there are a couple of class keepers waiting in the wings, also pisses me off.
Selection chaos, unrealistic dreams of finding “The New X”, sticking with some players way beyond what is reasonable, while at the same time dropping others at the first hint of failure, a lack of any conceivable plan, the ability to lose a match from seemingly secure situations, a complete lack of self-confidence and spirit in the team, deadly enemies laughing openly because nobody at all is scared of you, and all this after a fifteen year period of total domination of world cricket.
It is exactly like the old England, except for one minor detail.
Nice blog, BTW. I took a quick look at your archive pages to get a flavour. At random I picked December 26 2010, December 27 2010 and December 28 2010, which I enjoyed very much. Many thanks.
The current latest article – “My Bestest Friend in the Whole World” – is well worth a read.
(I’d use one of those smiley things now if I knew how to, but I don’t, so you’ll just have to imagine this last paragraph is a picture of a man with no eyebrows and with his eyes too close together smiling way beyond what his face muscles would normally allow. On his side.)
What’s really puzzling is how one is supposed to use emoticons with colons or brackets. (This, for example, is clearly unacceptable: :))
Wait. EMOTICONS. On THIS website? EMBEDDED!? I’ve heard enough.
Sad, really. I was quite looking forward to Virender Sehwag ending his career and helping make the 2013 Ashes more competitive.
Speaking of Sehwag, I cannot help notice the similarities between him and Mitch – both have high averages, both have unusual techniques and both are fond of short, wide bowling outside off. If not for the tattoos, I could hardly tell them apart.
Never mind emoticons, where are the ‘like’ buttons?
KC, Bert,Ritesh, e normous , John, cric-o-fan, Howe-zat, all of you: take a bow