Johnson strike SA top order
Sunday, 8 March 2009
Tea : South Africa 62 for 4 (Duminy 28*, Johnson 3-15) trail Australia 352 by 289 runs
The scorecard said it best. Mitchell Johnson's first over contained the sequence W0W, echoing the sentiments of all present at Kingsmead after a furious, often violent, second session.
In perhaps his finest spell in Australian colours, Johnson claimed the wickets of Neil McKenzie and Hashim Amla before a run had been scored, forced Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis to retire hurt, and bowled Mark Boucher in the final over before tea. And this, all in nine frenzied overs.
By tea, Johnson had combined with Ben Hilfenhaus to reduce the hosts to 62 for 4, but the wickets column did not reveal the full extent of the damage inflicted.
Perhaps more important than any of their four dismissals were the savage blows Johnson exacted upon Smith and Kallis, the nerve centre of this South African batting order.
Smith was forced to retire hurt with a broken finger that will sideline him for the remainder of the Test series. Kallis, meanwhile, bore the full brunt of a Johnson bumper on the chin, and was escorted from the field with a shirt caked in blood. He will return to action once the wound is stitched.
It was only two months ago that Johnson fractured Smith's left hand with a brutish delivery that jagged back sharply off a gaping crack in the SCG pitch.
This time, the Australian paceman required no special assistance from the wicket to injure Smith's right hand, beating the batsman with express pace and brutish bounce. Clearly, he is a bowler at the height of his powers.
The scorecard said it best. Mitchell Johnson's first over contained the sequence W0W, echoing the sentiments of all present at Kingsmead after a furious, often violent, second session.
In perhaps his finest spell in Australian colours, Johnson claimed the wickets of Neil McKenzie and Hashim Amla before a run had been scored, forced Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis to retire hurt, and bowled Mark Boucher in the final over before tea. And this, all in nine frenzied overs.
By tea, Johnson had combined with Ben Hilfenhaus to reduce the hosts to 62 for 4, but the wickets column did not reveal the full extent of the damage inflicted.
Perhaps more important than any of their four dismissals were the savage blows Johnson exacted upon Smith and Kallis, the nerve centre of this South African batting order.
Smith was forced to retire hurt with a broken finger that will sideline him for the remainder of the Test series. Kallis, meanwhile, bore the full brunt of a Johnson bumper on the chin, and was escorted from the field with a shirt caked in blood. He will return to action once the wound is stitched.
It was only two months ago that Johnson fractured Smith's left hand with a brutish delivery that jagged back sharply off a gaping crack in the SCG pitch.
This time, the Australian paceman required no special assistance from the wicket to injure Smith's right hand, beating the batsman with express pace and brutish bounce. Clearly, he is a bowler at the height of his powers.