Mitchell Johnson has no hard feelings of been left out of
the Ashes squad and believes he has overcome the disappointment of been dropped
out of the squad.
Johnson who ripped through the top order of the table topper’s
Chennai in the IPL overnight and was asked if this was the best form of reply
to the Australian selectors.
“No, what is done is done, all I can do now is play the best
cricket I can and that is what I am doing.”
“Obviously I was very disappointed, I haven’t won an ashes
series and it would have nice to get over there when you are bowling at your
best to have an opportunity to have a crack”
Although he was left out Johnson still thinks there could be
chance with such a long season ahead. “If the chance does come up I want to be
there to put my hand up. With the back
to back ashes I hope I get an opportunity to play somewhere”.
Johnson is currently 2nd leading wicket taker in
the IPL and Johnson fast bowling partner, Brett Lee last week described Johnson’s
form the best he has seen from the left arm pacer.
“Coming from Brett Lee is a great statement for me, I did
say at the start of the summer I was enjoying my cricket more than I have ever
before. Being away from the game allowed
me to fix up my action”.
Playing in all three formats for Australia meant Johnson
never had sufficient time to repair his action. It wasn’t until he was injured
in 2010 and had 7 months off with injury that allowed him to work with the
likes of Dennis Lillee in his home town of Perth to eradicate the mistakes in
his action.
“Time I had off from the game about 7 months I was able to
get myself stronger physically and mentally freshen up and enable on things I
want to work on”.
Although Johnson stated he had overcome the disappointment it
was evident by his responses, Johnson in his own mind felt he was harshly
treated by the selectors.
“I felt I had a really good summer in the Test series against
Sri Lanka and the ODI series against West Indies. I have been bowling really
well and I think I have carried that form for the Mumbai Indians”.
Johnson return could well depend on how quickly Ryan Harris
recovers from his latest injury. At
least he has a chance to carry on his white ball form in Champions Trophy in
England before the Ashes.
