Let Mitch Johnson grow up

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Filed under: Kim Hughes, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Johnson S Mum, Shane Warne, The Ashes

11 comments

Mitchell Johnson is having a bad month at the office. It happens to all of us, even Australian representative cricketers.

All together now: Poor Mitch

But when the rest of us let the side down at work, we usually can’t get away with blaming our mum.

Kim Hughes and Shane Warne have both said Johnson’s woeful bowling figures of 8 for 331 in the first two Ashes Tests are partly because of his upset over the embarrassing public spat between his mum Vikki Harber and his fiance Jessica Bratich. Oh please.

Johnson is 27 years old - the area behind his ears should be as dry as the Simpson Desert by now.

He has a job most Australian men would happily give up their life savings for, and he gets paid a lot of money for the honour.

He’s been nurtured by the best Australian cricketing has to offer since he was spotted by Dennis Lillee 10 years ago.

And, as we keep reading, he has a hot girlfriend who’s stuck by him despite the best efforts of his mother to split them up.

Johnson’s relationship with his mother has been pored over here at home, and gleefully mocked in the British press. It’s clearly a complicated arrangement and Bratich might be wondering what she’s let herself in for.

But I’m more worried about people making excuses for his form slump.

Hughes said: “I found it incredibly surprising that his mum said what she did. Mitchell Johnson is a pretty sensitive young man and now it looks like he is totally devoid of self-confidence… This is a young lad who is now battling some pretty serious off-field issues.”

Either there are “issues” we don’t know about or Hughes thinks your mum not liking your girlfriend is “pretty serious.”

Warne, who’s got form on the “it was mum’s fault” defence at least encouraged Mitchell to get over it and focus on the stumps.

“He’s had some pretty big distractions and I’m sure it’s affected him a fair bit, but you have to deal with it before a Test match and you simply cannot be consumed by it during a Test,” Warne said.

Warne’s dead right on the last point. Johnson is old enough, and experienced enough, to put the distraction of his possessive mother aside and start bowling like he means it.

The problem is, as long as older, wiser heads than his are blaming his mum for our Ashes slump, he can continue to think it’s a big enough deal to make him take his eye off the ball.

Those around him need to let him grow up before he turns 30.

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11 comments

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- RT says:
  
  08:56am | 24/07/09
  
  If you think people ‘should let him grow up’, shouldn’t you be withholding advice yourself? After all you’re saying it’s the opinion of commentators that could be affecting Johnson.
  
  Reply
- laurie says:
  
  09:49am | 24/07/09
  
  I played cricket for 30 years (25 competitively) and found that most fools could bowl at the 3 sticks at the other end of the pitch. That Mitchell Johnson cant do that suggests he doesnt have a future as a frontline bowler. a shock bowler maybe but opening, stock, and strike probably not.
  
  Reply
- Lexi says:
  
  10:25am | 24/07/09
  
  Mitchell is a good cricketer, and appears by all accounts to be a nice young man. Certainly, the credit for his upbringing must go to his sole parent mother - but she needs to let him go out and live without her talking about him to the media.
  
  I think all credit to him and Jessica for not commenting on his mum’s carry on. But, as a 30-something woman, I can tell you that I still get quite hurt by some things my parents do and say. It’s not a sign of naivety or weakness that it’s got to him - just reality.
  
  Some people can put that stuff to the side, others can’t. It’s just a difference in personailty.
  
  Who knows, it may not be the mum stuff at all that’s put him off his game. Could be a virus, could be his credit card statement, could be he’s just lost his mojo - but he’s not the only one in the team who’s lost his mojo.
  
  For a moment I thought Punter’s had come back…. but it was fleeting. Good, but fleeting. Where are the Aussies of the first test?
  
  Reply
- Peter Warrington says:
  
  12:23pm | 24/07/09
  
  KIm Hughes is still one of my heroes and may have some contact with Mitch given he’s now a Sandgroper, on paper at least, but I would have thought his views on the family dynamics were about as informed as mine. He’d have a general view on disharmony in dressing rooms, but in his days it came from motherF****ers (LIllee and Marsh), not mothers.
  
  I reckon a much bigger issue would be Ponting still acting like he wished Brett Lee were in the team. Hughes should call on Lee to retire, now. That would give all of the Fab 3 a boost in confidence and stop them looking over their shoulder. and the coach and selectors should shame themselves for resting Johnson pre-test when even Roebuck knows that Johnson responds well to work and not to rest. he is the ultimate Protestant quickie.
  
  and where’s the bowlers’ union when you need ‘em? if Johnson were a batsman his efforts in the last year would buy him 2 years out of form - look at Hussey, and Hayden before him.
  
  BTW, Mitch’s mum looks younger than he does?!
  
  BTW #2, in reflection, many of us have been hard on P Hughes. Even a committed futurist like me.
  
  But his scores and dismissals have an element of wobble.
  
  Yet, he says, he got an inside edge at cardiff that could have gone for 4 like kp and bopara all season. An unlucky glove at lords to a dire ball. And a nick to a rampant flintoff that didn’t carry.
  
  So he should go out at Northants and relax.
  
  Having conceded that, if he stays, the Poms will continue to choke him. That’s ok, I’m sure he has the mind to grind.
  
  But it concerns me that Kat will have dropped anchor, too.
  
  Aussies need to win a test, preferably this one. They can’t be trundling along at 2 an over.
  
  Solution - open with Clarke, who can knock the ball into gaps, rotate the strike. Has looked rock solid against pace.
  
  Katich 3
  
  Ponting 4
  
  Hussey 5
  
  North 6
  
  Spook the poms, mess with their plans, roll the dice. If we get to 50 in good time and with Hughes set, cruise till tea then hit the afterburners and be 500 by lunch day 2. Anderson broad and onions easy pickings. Strauss will freeze.
  
  Ps gotta win a toss.
  
  PPS
  
  BTW #2,
  
  Reply
- realto says:
  
  02:35pm | 24/07/09
  
  I agree P Warrington, Lee should retire now. It’s been great, but it’s over. What’s he still doing on the tour now that he’s announced he’ll miss the 3rd test? Surely he should go home and another bowler come over. I don’t mind your batting lineup but isn’t Hussey nearly in the Lee class without the injury excuse? How long can you hold your test position while rarely scoring 50?
  
  Reply
- Peter Warrington says:
  
  02:55pm | 24/07/09
  
  re Hussey, yeah, definitely, I started his bad form run the summer India were here, he was out of form scoring 150* at the SCG, that’s how bad Kumble lost the plot that test. I have jinxed him, IMHO.
  
  but, having persevered, I saw good signs at Lords. hate to drop him now if he has a big one in him.
  
  If I am dropping him I’m playing Haddin in the 6 and 5 bowlers. Clark in.
  
  Hussey v Watson at Northants for a spot in tests 3-5? maybe.
  
  if bringing another bowler, bring a turner. Crazy time.
  
  Reply
- iansand says:
  
  08:00pm | 24/07/09
  
  That is all very well. Can the girlfriend bowl?
  
  Reply
- Winsome says:
  
  07:01am | 26/07/09
  
  Every member of the cricket press in England and Australia are expressing an opinion on this guy, a lot of ex-test bowlers are saying what should be done with/to him and he is being made to feel that he is losing the Ashes on his own. Bloody cheek really after the first innings batting at Lords just about matched the bowling for sheer duffness.
  
  Looks like he is having difficulty with pressure. Surely that is what the control problems are? He has mostly been an inconsistent bowler anyway, just someone who can come up with jaffas time and time again. But man, does he look miserable which is a huge shame, he is playing for Australia after all.
  
  Reply
- John says:
  
  09:38pm | 29/07/09
  
  Mitchell Johnson should be dropped from the team. It horrified me to hear on TV tonight that he will be selected for the 3rd Test. The guy is a joke, clealrly incapable of bowling presently at the top level. If he does play in hte 3rd Test serious questions need to be asked about the selectors. We have no hope of winning another test in the Ashes series while Mitchell Johnson is playing.
  
  Reply
- juvpecw says:
  
  05:38am | 01/10/11
  
  Dzkxlx nrvghbwccxne, tonvdrduayni, [link=http://wngjsyddodkb.com/]wngjsyddodkb[/link], http://oyttlgaunbrr.com/
  
  Reply
- Aadjou says:
  
  01:59pm | 02/06/12
  
  I love your answer to #1-a couaogerus heart. Yes.My youngest daughter has a fascination with sharks and spouts off shark trivia when we need it. She and my hubs want to do that cage thing where you go down and photograph them. No thank you. I’ll stay happily on the beach!Enjoy your day!
  
  Reply

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