Mitchell Johnson: From a van delivery driver to the world's most fearsome fast bowler

Mitchell Johnson

Dale Steyn might be the best fast bowler in the world, but it is Mitchell Johnson who undoubtedly the bowler who batsmen fear the most mainly because of his raw pace. His recent form has been majestic, having taken 37 wickets in the Ashes last year and followed it up with 22 wickets in 3 Tests in South Africa. But Johnson’s biggest problem in his early years with Queensland, surprisingly, was that he was too nice and polite to be a fast bowler.

Mitchell Johnson – the introvert

Johnson is not shy of having a word or two with the batsmen these days, but one Queensland staff member remembers a callow Johnson coming in early one day and not uttering a single word, quietly waiting for cricket training to begin.

Even then, though, Johnson was furiously fast and would cause quite a panic to even the most senior of Queensland batsmen in the nets.

''If only they could take the nets out to the middle, Mitch would be the best bowler the world has ever seen,'' a Queensland batsman said at the time.

But a combination of injuries and inconsistency in form meant that Johnson was in and out of the Queensland side, and he eventually ended up losing his Queensland contract. It could have been easy for the 32-year-old to become disillusioned with life as he was, for a time being, working as a plumbing van delivery driver and also playing as a specialist batsman in club cricket in Brisbane.

But to his huge credit, Johnson, instead of getting down on himself, worked tremendously hard to become the best cricketer possible, and his efforts have finally paid off.

Hard work pays off

He had a fantastic start to his Test career in 2007 and was on top of his game for a couple of years before suffering family and form issues during the Ashes in 2009. For the next two years, he was unable to reproduce his early performances in the Australian team and was in danger of fading away completely. A long term injury suffered during the tour of South Africa in 2011 actually worked to his advantage as it allowed him to spend some time out of the game and brought back his passion for the game gradually.

The birth of his daughter Rubika, who turned one last week, has also helped Johnson considerably and allowed him to look at the game in perspective.

''I've got a photo album (with pictures of Rubika) that I just flip through and it puts a smile on your face," Johnson had said before the Gabba Test last year according to the Daily Telegraph.

''I've learned in the past that you can build the Ashes up too much and get too involved and too emotional. For me it's just another game of cricket and at the end of the day I can ring back home or get on Skype and see my daughter."