Few cricketers thrilled the crowd as Mitchell Johnson did. Fans write in about the many feats of a seriously quick bowler
ESPNcricinfo staff17-Nov-2015Benjamin Bishop
When Mitchell Johnson smashed a six into the commentary box window in Harare, then seeing it boarded up for the rest of the game!Timothy Haskett
Mitch is on fire at the Adelaide Oval, he’s just taken a wicket and the Aussie crowd smells blood. Stuart Broad walks out to boos and hisses, and then spends 10 minutes getting a bolt on the sight screen covered because it was shining in his peripheral vision. They find a sheet to cover the bolt but the time delay has made the crowd and Mitch angrier. He steams in, bowls a 155kph thunderbolt towards Broad’s previously broken toe, he flinches his leg away and it BOWLS HIM!!! Mitch gets another Ashes wicket, that’s two in two balls, and the crowd goes wild.Richard Henderson
I was there, in the stand, on the edge of my seat at Adelaide Oval on the third day when Mitch Johnson destroyed England in the space of three overs. I remember tweeting about how it would poetic justice if Mitch bowled Stuart Broad for a duck after he wasted all that time with the sight screen, and sure enough…Mitch Johnson, what a legend.Yashovardhan Diwan
It was the middle of the night (I go to uni in America) when Mitch bowled Alastair Cook in Adelaide 2013. I was watching in the common room of my dorm so as not to keep up my roommate with incessant shouting. It might have been the best ball I’ve ever seen- swinging in and cutting out to clip top of off (might’ve re watched it approx 35725283 times since).While celebrating the wicket I broke the door of my dorm common room and proceeded to blame it on a girl for the rest of the year. Absolutely worth. Love Mitch. Love the mo. And Adelaide was the best of his best. Best cricket I ever watched and probably ever will.Karthik Malhotra
It was against India when the Aussies came here in 2009 it was 4th ODI in Guwahati when he was bowling the first over of the match. It was a day game and in winter so it was quite foggy and he got hit for six off the very first ball by Virender Sehwag. But by the end of the over he claimed both Viru and Gautam Gambhir. The special part was he bowled them both, by generating a lot of pace.Hylton Forge
My favourite Mitchell Johnson moment – 2nd test at Kingsmead in Durban in 2009. On a juicy, lively wicket he whipped out Neil McKenzie for a duck with the third ball of South Africa’s first innings closely followed by Hashim Amla two balls later. As if that wasn’t enough he then sent Graeme Smith to hospital in the next over with a broken finger and Australia went on to win by 175 runs. The most devastating and hostile spell of fast bowling that I’d witnessed and I’ve seen Mike Procter, Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding, Allan Donald, Dennis Lillee and many others in their prime.As a South African fan maybe it wasn’t a favourite moment but still mesmerising to watch.Mitch wasn’t just about raw pace though•Getty ImagesJames Giugni
So many magic moments – but how about when he softened Pujara up with some chin music before producing a slower cutter that took the Indian’s off-bail?! Raw aggression followed by pure class.Stephen Jurd
My number 1 Mitch moment is at the SCG against South Africa when at the fall of the ninth wicket out comes a brave Graeme Smith with a broken finger to try to hang on for a draw. Smith did amazingly well, but on Day 5, with the shadows lengthening, Mitch was able to deliver a 146kmh delivery which cut about 15 degrees (off a crack) to take Smith’s off stump. Unplayable. Farewell Mitch, the best parks cricketer ever.Simon DavisAussie tour of SA 2014. We went to Centurion to watch the first Test. It was all Johnson. He cowed the crowd as well as his opponents. 12 for 127! He broke Philanders bat and hit Amla and McLaren in the head. The sheer aggressiveness of his bowling, combined with pace and accuracy left SA with no answers and the crowd with no voice. It was quite something to watch even if it was painful for a SA supporter. But Johnson was mercurial, we didn’t think he could do it again. In the 2nd Test in PE, South Africa destroyed Australia and we felt vindicated that this was a once off. Off to Newlands and Mitch did it again with 7 wickets. It went down to the last hour, with AB and Faf and Vernon keeping them out, dropping their hands to bouncers and getting mauled. It got mean and tense with Steyn and Clarke, and it felt like the whole Australian team was riding Johnson’s menace. Best series I’ve ever watched live, even though we lost. Thanks Mitch!Rajkumar Pujari
Mitch Johnson’s four wickets against India in Kuala Lumpur. That’s when he burst on to the scene. Sachin was in peak form that series, was class apart from rest of the Indian batsmen, Australia scored only 240-odd, other Aussie bowlers didn’t have much impact. Mitch picked up four of the five wickets that fell before rain washed out the match. The other one was a run-out. I was listening to the match as a 13-year-old on a radio lurking in the corner of study room in my school hostel. I still remember it as if it were yesterday. The name Mitchell Johnson was etched in my memory since then.Welcome to Australia, Virat!•Getty ImagesSurya KR
My favourite Mitchell Johnson moment was against India in 2014-15 series, where the first ball he delivered to Virat Kohli hit him on the helmet and he didn’t sledge or give those crazy stares. Instead he went up to Kohli to ask him whether he was fine.Mohammad Ihsan
In the last Pakistan-Australia series at Abu Dhabi, it was a real hot day, many fans were sitting in the general stands and Mitchell Johnson was fielding near the long-on boundary. A box of cold water was near him, when a fan asked for water Johnson threw him a bottle and then another asked as the weather was too hot, and so on, until he was fielding there he was supplying cold water to the fans. It was very generous of him.Hari Prathap
For me, it has to be IPL final 2013. The making of MJ, the beast.. Well, atleast for England.He broke down one of the best IPL batting teams with his sheer pace.Anish Kumar
In the 2009 Champions Trophy, he made a 47-ball 73 after Australia were reduced to 171 for 7 against an inexperienced West Indies team.James Shaw
Best MJ moment has to be his duck at the SCG in the 2010-11 Ashes. As an Englishman sat in the barmy army it was the best atmosphere I’ve experienced in a cricket ground.Hamish
Being from NZ my favourite Mitch Johnson moment is him retiring!!
