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From a tearaway fast bowler to motor racing, Mitchell Johnson can’t quite free himself from his addiction for speed

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Sep-2018Mitchell Johnson made his name as a tearaway fast bowler in cricket, but he’s gearing up for a different kind of speed now. Having retired from all forms of cricket in August this year, the 36-year old former Australia quick is set to make his motor racing debut this weekend at the Barbagello Raceway in a Formula 1000 series event.”I’ve always loved my cars, I’ve always had that passion,” Johnson told the . “For me it’s that release – it’s not quite the same as what I got with cricket but it’s a great adrenaline rush for me to get my mind off things. You’re going pretty quick, you’ve got so many technical things to think about – when you’re going to turn into the corner, braking, feeling the car. It’s been a great process – I’m starting to really enjoy it.”Johnson took a liking to motorsport following a charity event, and since then he underwent a training and development programme with Arise Racing, an outfit based in Perth that helped prepare him for the race he’ll be a part of this weekend. For Johnson, though, it’s not too different from the thrill of fast bowling, whether he’s bounding into his delivery stride, or at the other end facing it.”I faced Shoaib Akhtar when I was playing for Queensland,” he said. “He’s got this massive run-up – the first ball, I was sort of shaking there. His first ball, hit for four, it was a full toss and I ran past and said ‘please don’t hit me’. It was almost the same as the first time I was driving out here.”Johnson had retired from all international cricket following a Test series against New Zealand in 2015, finishing as the third-highest wicket-taker among Australia fast bowlers in Test cricket. With 313 wickets in 73 Tests, he’s behind only Glenn McGrath (563 wickets) and Dennis Lillee (355). He was a crucial part of the devastating 5-0 Ashes whitewash Australia inflicted on England in 2013-14, when he took 37 wickets at a stellar average of 13.97 and was named Player of the Series.It seems like his days in the fast lane aren’t quite done yet.

Zimbabwe must now win both remaining matches, if they are to avoid a series defeat, but a newly inspired Sri Lanka top order stands in their way

The Preview by Andrew Fidel Fernando07-Jul-2017

Match Facts

July 8, 2017
Start time: 0945 local (0415GMT)Can Graeme Cremer tighten up things on Saturday?•Peter Della Penna

Big Picture

Who would want to be a limited-overs bowler? For so long, Sri Lanka had been the home of the lower-scoring ODI, but in the past week, two totals of more than 300 have been mowed down, which suggests the island’s tracks are also beginning to conform to a global trend. As with so many of the pitches during the recent Champions Trophy, two of the three pitches in this series have afforded virtually no seam movement, and no menacing turn.While the bowlers have been defanged – Zimbabwe especially having failed to take more than five wickets in any of the three innings so far – Sri Lanka’s batsmen appear to be in a good rhythm. Chief among them is Upul Tharanga, who, batting in an unfamiliar no. 4 position, has scored 198 runs in the series without having been dismissed. The openers have been in strapping form, and virtually everyone else in the top six has contributed a score as well.Zimbabwe must now win both remaining matches, if they are to avoid a series defeat, but a newly inspired Sri Lanka top order stands in their way. The key, for them, is the discipline in their spin bowling; on Thursday, the hosts’ openers were fed too many wayward deliveries in the middle overs, and found it too easy to work the ball around.Both sides’ catching is under the microscope too. On batting-friendly surfaces, wicket-taking opportunities are at a premium, and bowlers need their team-mates to convert every chance that comes their way.

Form guide

Sri Lanka WWLLW (completed matches, most recent first)
Zimbabwe LLWWL

In the spotlight

While Asela Gunaratne‘s batting has been required only once in the series, he has contributed nonetheless with the ball, breaking substantial stands in each match. His presence in the attack is vital. While Sri Lanka wean young spinners at the top level, Gunaratne has been sort of an insurance policy – a bowler to fall back on when the front-liners are having an off day. Where Lakshan Sandakan went for 73 runs on Thursday, for example, Gunaratne returned 2 for 53 from his 10 overs, and prevented Zimbabwe’s total from getting completely out of hand.Graeme Cremer came into the series with some form from the Scotland tour, and also the Pro50 at home, but is yet to make a substantial contribution in this series. Partly this is down to indiscipline. On Thursday, there were five wides down the leg side in his first over, and errors of length in most of his overs after that. As Imran Tahir has repeatedly proved this year – this Sri Lanka top order does not enjoy accurate legspin. If Cremer can tighten up his bowling, he could find himself among the wickets. It might also help if he could win a toss on occasion – by his own count, he has lost nine on the trot so far.Nuwan Kulasekara might replace Nuwan Pradeep in the fourth ODI•AFP

Team news

Nuwan Pradeep, who had left the field with a thigh strain on Thursday, has been ruled out of the rest of the series. This means a spot may be open for either Nuwan Kulasekara, or 19-year-old quick Asitha Fernando, who have been drafted into the squad.* Lahiru Kumara is the other seamer in the squad. Sri Lanka may want to keep the top order and the spin attack intact.Sri Lanka (possible): 1 Niroshan Dickwella (wk), 2 Danushka Gunathilaka, 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Upul Tharanga, 5 Angelo Mathews (capt.), 6 Asela Gunaratne, 7 Wanidu Hasaranga, 8 Dushmantha Chameera, 9 Lakshan Sandakan, 10 Nuwan Kulasekara/Lahiru Kumara/Asitha Fernando, 11 Lasith MalingaRyan Burl had been unavailable for the third ODI after being briefly admitted to hospital, having unwittingly consumed food he was allergic to. Though he comes back into contention for this game, Zimbabwe may be tempted to stick with his replacement Tarisai Musakanda, who hit 48 from no. 3. Tendai Chatara had an indifferent outing in the last match, but as he remains Zimbabwe’s top wicket taker in the series, will likely retain his place. Carl Mumba may also get another run as the second seamer, having returned an economy rate of 5.68 in 6.2 overs.Zimbabwe (possible): 1 Solomon Mire, 2 Hamilton Masakadza, 3 Tarisai Musakanda, 4 Craig Ervine, 5 Sean Williams, 6 Malcolm Waller, 6 Sikander Raza, 8 Peter Moor (wk), 9 Graeme Cremer (capt.), 10 Tendai Chatara, 11 Carl Mumba

Pitch and conditions

There is likely to be more of the crosswind that was seen on Thursday, though apparently there is also some chance of a thunderstorm in the afternoon. The pitch may not be quite as batting friendly, but is expected to have plenty of runs in it.

Stats and trivia

• Thursday’s century was the fifth of Hamilton Masakadza’s ODI career. He now sits at fourth on Zimbabwe’s century-makers’ list, behind Brendon Taylor (8), Alistair Campbell (7) and Grant Flower (6).
• Since his return to ODI cricket following a 19-month layoff, Lasith Malinga has taken five wickets at an average of 63.60, with an economy rate of 6.25
• If Sri Lanka win either of their remaining games, this will be the first ODI trophy they have won since November last year, when they beat Zimbabwe and West Indies in a tri-series.

Quotes

“There’s not much you can change in one day. We will take the positives and try and and restrict them.”
“What we need is consistency. We can lose one or two games, but if we bat well every day that’s great. Some days we don’t do well. If we want to improve we need to be consistent.”
*13.57 GMT, July 7: The story has been updated to reflect the inclusion of Nuwan Kulasekara in Sri Lanka’s squad.

Richard Levi’s 28-ball half-century helped Northamptonshire to a second consecutive win in the NatWest T20 Blast and the highest successful chase at Wantage Road

ECB Reporters Network27-May-2016
ScorecardRichard Levi thrashed 58 off 37 balls•Getty Images

Richard Levi’s 28-ball half-century helped Northamptonshire to a second consecutive win in the NatWest T20 Blast and the highest successful chase at Wantage Road. Levi’s 58 gave Northants a quick start and Steven Crook smacked 33 in 24 balls finished the job.Requiring close to ten an over, Northants kept pace with the chase throughout with Jobb Cobb making 35 in 23 balls and Ben Duckett 29 in 15 balls. Only legspinner Matt Critchley found any control for Derbyshire, with 2 for 19 from his three overs.Levi was in belligerent mood once again after an opening-round 61 against Leicestershire. His second scoring stroke was a six – the trademark clip off the legs – and he added three more maximums, including a sweet straight lofted drive off Shiv Thakor before the Powerplay was complete. The first six overs were worth a healthy 77 for 1.Cobb found form in two second XI T20s earlier in the week and here began with a classic straight-drive before clearing his front leg to smear Alex Hughes over midwicket and pulling another wide of long-on.Duckett got his “duck-scoop” away to begin the 15th over that yielded 18 runs to bring the equation back to 46 required in 30 balls. But after an outrageous reverse sweep that flew straight into the burger van for six, he tried the same stroke and top-edged to Thakor at backward point.Crook helped reduce the target to 16 from 12 balls and then smashed Jimmy Neesham over extra-cover for four. Just five were needed from the final over but Rory Kleinveldt was caught at long-on trying to finish the game in style, before Andy Carter yorked Rob Keogh to still leave a single needed from two balls. But a no-ball from a high full toss sealed Northamptonshire’s victory.It was a mighty chase – the highest for Northamptonshire in T20s – after Derbyshire posted 195 for 7. Buoyed by an opening-round victory at champions Lancashire, the visitors were sent in and raced off to a great start thanks to Wes Durston. He took Crook’s first over for 19 – two heaved pulls flew towards the short boundary and a slammed uppercut for six over point to the long side of the ground.He helped the visitors to 65 off the Powerplay – Hamish Rutherford falling to a catch at extra cover for 10 – but they lost Durston on the cusp of a half-century before skipping down to Seekkuge Prasanna and being stumped for 47.It ended a stand of 74 for the second wicket in just 36 balls. Chesney Hughes played his part with 46 in 29 balls, having begun with three boundaries, all of them off the edge of the bat: two flashing past slip and a top-edge that Adam Rossington couldn’t take behind the stumps.But having been 110 for 3 after 11 overs, Northants hauled back the Derbyshire innings with four wickets in 11 balls. Cobb, the stand-in captain, was taken for four, six, four in successive balls by Wayne Madsen before gaining his revenge by trapping Madsen lbw trying to sweep. Hughes then missed a straight delivery and was bowled middle stump to give Cobb a second wicket in the over.Ollie Stone returned to have Neesham caught at first slip and when Graeme White claimed a return catch from Thakor, 140 for 3 had become 151 for 7. But Tom Poynton found two boundaries in the closing overs, coupled with some good running in his 37 in 21 balls, to put up a testing target. It proved not enough.

RCB batsman Mandeep Singh credited his improved performance in recent matches to AB de Villiers’ help with technical aspects of batting

ESPNcricinfo staff21-May-2015AB de Villiers and Mandeep Singh were the protagonists in Royal Challengers Bangalore’s 71-run victory against Rajasthan Royals in Pune, adding 113 for the third wicket to keep their hopes of a maiden IPL title alive. Mandeep made his first half-century of the season, and said later that help from de Villiers on technical aspects of batting had drastically improved his batting.”I have learnt a lot from him already and whatever he has taught me, I have straightaway incorporated those things in my game,” Mandeep told . “Initially when I was playing my shots, the completion of the shot would end with my head leaning towards the off-stump. I asked him for suggestions to improve that aspect.”I initially used to think that the arms go wider while playing your shots and that’s the reason your head tends to fall. He cleared that cloud around me and asked me to have my head still around the middle stump after the completion of a shot. I think even modern-day cricketers consider him their idol. It is like a dream come true to be playing with him.”Mandeep walked in at 46 for 2 in the eighth over of the Eliminator against Royals, and as de Villiers struggled for his characteristic fluency early in his innings, Mandeep accelerated the run rate.”We just wanted to bat and try to build a partnership. We wanted to keep things simple and watch the ball closely and hit it,” Mandeep said. “I knew if de Villiers spent a little more time in the middle, he would get ruthless in the end. I had the confidence that he would see us through.”De Villiers was pleased he could contribute to Mandeep’s success, and said he feels he is achieving his goal of having a positive influence on the younger players in the team. “What would life be without having a good influence on other people? That is what it is all about,” de Villiers said. “I am trying to have a positive impact on some young players in the team and if Mandeep says I have, it makes me a very happy man.”De Villiers started slowly, scoring 16 runs off his first 20 balls, but kicked on to make 50 off his last 18. He praised Mandeep’s innings and said it had helped him get his momentum back.”A lot of credit should go to Mandeep. To be honest, I didn’t play very well,” de Villiers said. “It was not as fluent a knock as I wanted it to be but I guess it all comes with experience. I struggled in the first few overs but I fought through and I was lucky to be there in the end to express myself.”Royal Challengers were 60 for 2 at the end of the 10th over, but the innings gained momentum from there and 120 runs were scored in the last 10 overs. De Villiers said the initial target was 140 considering it wasn’t an easy pitch to bat on.”This wasn’t an easy wicket to bat on. I wouldn’t have been able to get those shots away in the slog overs had I just come in to bat. I was looking at 140 initially. But with that big 15th over against Ankit Sharma, the momentum changed and the target shifted to 150-160. We played even better towards the end and managed to get 180.”

Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus will not bowl before the first morning of the third Test against South Africa, as Australia try to freshen up the exhausted fast bowlers

Daniel Brettig27-Nov-2012
Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus will not bowl another ball before the first morning of the third Test against South Africa, beginning on November 30 in Perth, as Australia try to freshen up the exhausted fast bowlers after their unstinting but ultimately fruitless efforts in Adelaide.Siddle’s performance was particularly noteworthy, pushing through crippling fatigue to take the hosts to within two wickets of a 1-0 series lead. Those exertions mean both he and Hilfenhaus are in considerable doubt to be recovered in time for Perth, leaving open the possibility of a dramatically recast bowling attack that may feature Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, John Hastings and Josh Hazlewood.Australia coach Mickey Arthur indicated that a wholesale swap of bowlers for Perth was a distinct possibility, granting the captain Michael Clarke a far fresher line-up of bowlers while South Africa continue to rely on the same quartet they brought for the tour. The visitors have been helped by the stout batting display that not only secured a draw but also gave Australia’s bowlers an enormous workload while their opposite numbers reclined in the Adelaide Oval dressing rooms.”It’s certainly something we need to look at,” Arthur said. “I think both Hilf and Sids have been outstanding, especially Sids – I thought there was a huge effort, a really warrior-like effort. We’ve got a couple of days off, I can’t see them bowling any balls at training, so we’ve just got to see how they pull up, see how they come up in Perth.”Hence we’ve given ourselves cover, in case they don’t pull up well we’re in a position where we could go with a completely different attack into Perth. That will depend on how Hilf and Sids travel, and we’ve had Mitchell Starc with us and we know he’s ready to go as well.”The training becomes more individualised now with such a quick turnaround. We’ve got a lot of new bowlers coming in, those bowlers will be very keen to impress I’m sure. So the quality of bowling around the nets is going to be first rate – and I’m sure our bowlers are going to get a really good hit out and be ready to go, come Friday morning.”Johnson’s return to the squad for the first time since he suffered a serious foot injury while batting during the dramatic Johannesburg match a year ago is a nod to his formidable record in Tests at the WACA ground – 30 wickets at 18.13 in four matches – but also an acknowledgement of his improved consistency this summer.”That does play a role, he’s had good success at the WACA ground but he’s just shown really good progression through the whole summer so far and it’s really good to have him back. He gives that little bit of fire and if selected sure he’ll be ready to go,” Arthur said. “I thought Mitchell was outstanding for us in the one day series in Pakistan, he bowled superbly, arguably one of our best bowlers there during that one day series.”He’s been making good progress through Shield cricket, I went and had a look at him at the WACA just last week and he looked in fairly good touch … so I think he obviously thoroughly deserves his place and we’re very lucky we have a lot of depth in this bowling department right now. These two guys [Siddle and Hilfenhaus] have given it their all and we can have a look at how everybody comes up and make a really well-considered decision for Friday.”Another decision Arthur described as well-considered was that to play James Pattinson at Adelaide Oval after he pushed through 53 overs in the first Test of the series at the Gabba. Having bowled only 9.1 overs in South Africa’s first innings in the second Test, Pattinson was forced off by a side/rib injury that ended his Test summer. 
”He’s a young fast bowler, he’s going to get injured,” Arthur said. “Medical reports were that he should be ok, ultimately myself and Michael [Clarke] and the selector on duty make the call and we wanted to go with Patto because we thought he had bowled really well in Brisbane. Unfortunately, young fast bowlers get injured so it was disappointing to lose him during the Test match.”One of Arthur’s chief tasks will be to ensure his team looks beyond the disappointment of Adelaide, emphasising the positives of dominating the world’s No. 1 team for extended periods of both Tests rather than mulling over the two wickets they were unable to take to secure victory.”We’ve had a quick chat about that – it took a massive amount out of the blokes and I’m just so proud of the effort each and every one of them gave. The guys are gutted we didn’t pull this Test match off,” Arthur said. “We spoke to them about it, hopefully we can put that behind us now and it all starts again for us first ball in Perth on Friday.”

South Australia’s last pair, Cullen Bailey and Peter George, survived for 22 overs to avoid defeat at Adelaide Oval, where rain and that final stand thwarted Western Australia

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Oct-2011
ScorecardCullen Bailey helped rescue South Australia from what looked like certain defeat•Getty Images

South Australia’s last pair, Cullen Bailey and Peter George, survived for 22 overs to avoid defeat at Adelaide Oval, where rain and that final stand thwarted Western Australia. The Warriors began the day with victory theirs for the taking: they led by 329 runs and the Redbacks were wobbling at 3 for 23.However, wet weather washed out 35 overs, which proved to be costly for the visitors. Nathan Coulter-Nile collected 4 for 46, while Michael Beer and Michael Hogan each picked up two wickets in an over to leave South Australia in major trouble at 9 for 106.At that point, the Redbacks had lost 5 for 28 in 12 overs, which left George and Bailey with a major task to see out the rest of the afternoon. In the final 22 overs they scored only 13 runs – the last 10 overs were maidens – and Bailey finished unbeaten on 19 from 109 balls with George on 5 from 60 deliveries as Marcus North rotated his bowlers to no avail.The Warriors took first-innings points from the match and sit second on the Sheffield Shield table, having won their opening game. The Redbacks are still searching for their first win.