Friday, December 17, 2010

Johnson devastates England

I hadn't heard anything like it.
I was listening to the second day of the THIRD ASHES TEST on ABC GRANDSTAND live online last night.

ENGLAND had seemed to be coasting, reaching 78 runs for no loss of wicket, when AUSTRALIA struck through MITCHELL JOHNSON.

Queensland native Johnson is a left-handed swing bowler. That means he can make the ball move sideways through the air in its trajectory toward the batsman -- a notoriously tricky ball to attempt to strike with the bat, particularly for right-handed batsmen.

Johnson's swinging ball progressed beyond merely tricky.

Johnson devastated England's batsmen in a relatively short spell, taking four wickets for seven runs.

You can listen to cricket on the radio for (literally) hours and hear batsmen serenely stroke the ball around the field. Not this time.

England were eventually bowled out for 187 and now it is Australia, at 268 & 119-3, who appear to be coasting.