Top 10 centuries by tail-enders in international cricket

#4 Mitchell Johnson – 123* vs. South Africa, Cape Town (2009)

Mitchell Johnson smashed his way to an unbeaten 123 at Newlands

Mitchell Johnson – the slogger or the all-rounder? The debate had gripped the cricketing world ever since Johnson smashed his way to a rapid 96 in the first test at Johannesburg. Despite having wrapped up the series at Durban, Australia were on course to a landslide innings defeat in the third test at Cape Town.

As Michael Clarke chopped on against Steyn at 218 for six, Johnson walked in at number eight. If it were his sixes that had the Wanderers’ crowd enthralled, it was a different side of Johnson’s batting that was on show at Newlands. Combining with Andrew McDonald for a 163-run seventh-wicket stand, he kept the scoreboard ticking along with powerful cover drives and trademark flicks through the leg.

On 96 at Johannesburg, the milestone had come agonisingly close for Johnson, only for him to lose his last two partners off consecutive balls. There was another similar nervy moment in Cape Town as he watched McDonald and Peter Siddle being dismissed off consecutive balls to Paul Harris. However, number eleven batsman Bryce McGain held through and Johnson was able to bring up a well-served ton in the next over, dispatching a Steyn delivery over the boundary.