Hughes’ death left an impact on my bowling: Mitchell Johnson

Australian fast bowler and hero of the Ashes 2013 series, Mitchell Johnson,  admitted today that the tragic incident of Phil Hughes’ death had left him flabbergasted and had a deep impact on his mental state as well as his bowling.

Hughes was struck on the head by a bouncer while playing a Shield game in 2014, just before India’s tour Down Under was to commence. Mitchell Johnson was being seen as a major threat for the Indian batsmen after he single-handedly tore apart the England batting in the 2013 Ashes series.

Johnson fetched a bumper haul of 37 wickets in the Ashes with his scorching speed and nasty bouncers. The sweet-chin-music was too hot to handle for the English batsman, and it was time that the Indians tasted it as well. But a dip in pace and mental block following the unfortunate incident saw Johnson losing his rhythm.

“I’m not someone who makes excuses, but we went through a bit of a time just before that with Phillip Hughes and that was something very difficult, and it was really hard to sort of deal with it at times,” Johnson told ABC. “We were definitely under-prepared at that time and my pace was definitely off. I probably wasn’t fully right, fully mentally right, there at that time, so I just got through.”

Johnson said that his relationship with Hughes was more like that of brothers. Several other players and captain, Michael Clarke too were deeply affected and they all were trying hard to get through it all.

Now that the Ashes 2015 series is the assignment at hand, Johnson sounded focused and determined to surprise the English batsmen yet again. His 5-wicket haul in the first tour match against Essex reflected that the brutal attack on the batsmen is not far away.

“I was really happy with how I bowled,” he said. “I felt really good, good rhythm, good pace, something I was really excited about here was bowling with those Duke balls. Since I got here, I just feel it in the air, there’s something I don’t know, it’s just really, really exciting at the moment – and my job is to bowl fast.”

With the first Ashes Test to start on July 8, the Australian fans will surely be ready for yet another onslaught by Mitchell Johnson. England, on the other hand, will be looking to avoid the mistakes they committed earlier and would like to play the fierce fast bowling better.