Australia v India 2014: Mitchell Johnson must nurture next generation of Aussie bowlers

MITCHELL Johnson’s next great challenge will be to become the bridge over troubled waters which links two generations of Australian cricketers.

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - DECEMBER 20: Mitchell Johnson of Australia and team mates leave the field during day four of the 2nd Test match between Australia and India at The Gabba on December 20, 2014 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

MITCHELL Johnson’s next great challenge will be to become the bridge over troubled waters which links two generations of Australian cricketers.

Sometime over the next year players almost half of the Australian team will disappear. Not just the likes of the Ryan Harris, Brad Haddin and the suddenly young-again Chris Rogers, but there are heavy clouds over the futures of Michael Clarke and Shane Watson.

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But all you would need to know is that Johnson will be around for a couple more years with that whipcord action whirling away like an uncoiled spring and Australia will be competitive most times and win its share.

This is not a golden era but it’s a fascinating one which gives us bucket loads of discussion topics because the team is eternally vulnerable, nothing can ever be taken for granted, and every victory seems to be earned in blood.

With a touch of poise, India, who have won just one of their last 21 overseas Tests, could be leading this series 2-0 for chasing even 150 might have overwhelmed Australia.

Mitchell Johnson produced a scintillating spell against India on day four.

For Australia, this era is a captivating journey of thrills and spills, brilliant comebacks, sudden stumbles, some experiments that hit the jackpot and others that crash like a frothing test tube on a laboratory floor.

But the very essence of everything this team is trying to achieve with bristling intent and robust attacking play is nothing without a muscle man with the new ball. It changes everything as it did on Saturday.

You can chirp away in the field, blaze with the bat and nibble away with on the spot seamers but nothing bankrolls success or gains more instant respect than a rampaging quick.

In a quirky sort of way Johnson’s effort in the match, while not statistically stunning with the ball with his four wickets, was all the more impressive because it took him more than three days to take his first wicket in the match before his hell raising 3-10 off 11 balls.

A younger model Johnson may have dropped his head and been seen walking back to his mark with a creased brow and shoulders slumped.

But he is a much more resilient beast these day. The lack of wickets only made him more desperate.

Johnson, with that compact, deliberate walk of his, just kept walking back to his mark, ball after ball, like New Zealand enforcer Richard Hadlee used to do, with a committed body language that radiated the vibe “this is only a matter of time”.

In 2007 Johnson went on a World Cup tour to the West Indies and didn’t play a match.

But he watched the likes of Glenn McGrath from close range and the lessons have stayed with him. Now its his turn to be the shepherd.

Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Marsh celebrate the winning runs. Picture: Adam Head

The Australian team is like a loosely assembled jigsaw in which parts seem to wobble loose and other are battened down each match.

Rogers, under immense pressure to hold his place, put one foot on the plane to England for the Ashes with his second half century of the match.

Australia has been willing him to England and on Saturday, with his brazen stroke play under pressure in which he made light of a cracking deck and a lively attack, he showed why heavy duty batsman have such an important role to play at Test level.

When Australia was under fire, it was easy to imagine that this was Lord’s or Cardiff in next year’s Ashes and Jimmy Anderson was apply the screws.

Grit gets undervalued at Test level but it was trading in gold bars.

Rogers is off to England. Well done old man. You deserve it.

Originally published as Australia v India 2014: Mitchell Johnson must nurture next generation of Aussie bowlers