10 Greatest Bowling Performances of All Time in a Test Series

#4 Mitchell Johnson: 37 wickets at 13.97 vs England (2013/14)

Mitchell Johnson bowls Alastair Cook in Adelaide

Coming through the ranks as a youngster, Mitchell Johnson was a fast-bowling prodigy. He was one of Australia's quickest bowlers when he was still in his teens, and looked destined to go down as one cricket's great bowlers.

However, as the years rolled on, Johnson continually failed to meet the lofty expectations placed upon him. He was always a decent option in ODI cricket, but in Tests he was constantly underwhelming. For the first five years of Johnson's Test career he largely disappointed, with the occasional burst of brilliance that would encourage selectors to stick with him a bit longer. That was until 2011, where Johnson only managed 13 wickets at 56.62 in a bowling attack he was meant to be leading. The selectors finally lost faith in him and dropped him from the side. By 2012, it seemed Johnson might have played his last Test.

What was rather odd was that at the same time as he was having his worst year in Tests, Johnson was thriving in ODIs. 2011 was arguably his best year in ODIs as he took 39 wickets at 20.95. Johnson's continued strong performances in ODIs led the selectors rolling the dice on him once more in Test cricket. This was perhaps as much out of desperation as anything else. Australia were facing a brilliant England side that had won the past three Ashes, the latest one having come earlier that year.

England's batting line-up included the likes of Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott and Matt Prior. It was a side similar to the one that won away in India a year earlier. They are still the last side to have done so.

Yet, over the course of five Tests, Johnson would dismantle this once great England side, dragging them to a 5-0 defeat.

Johnson's pace, and the awkwardness of his slinging action, saw some of the generation's best batsmen lose faith in their techniques. By the fifth Test in Sydney, only Ben Stokes, who made his debut earlier in the series, seemed to bat with any confidence as England fell for 155 and 166.

The side that entered the series as one of England's best in decades were left in tatters by Johnson.

Unlike for much of the rest of his career, Johnson showed great consistency throughout this series and indeed the series in South Africa that followed. Johnson took six wickets in every one of the five Tests against England and even took 7/40 in the first innings at Adelaide, bowling on a pitch that offered little in the way of pace and bounce.

England would rebuild and win the following Ashes series, but for a few months Johnson was able to live up to all the hype that had surrounded him since his youth.