Pace spearhead won't be poring over the videos as rain threatens to play role in battle with unfamiliar foe
Mitch not fussed with Bangladesh footage
Brisbane’s gloomy weather forecast for the coming week suggests Australia’s players might be confined to indoor pastimes for much of the period between now and Saturday’s scheduled World Cup fixture against Bangladesh at the Gabba.
But even then, it’s unlikely that reigning ICC Player of the Year Mitchell Johnson will utilise that enforced down time to pore over video footage of an opponent he has encountered only a handful of times in his decade-long international career.
It is almost four years since Australia last tangled with Bangladesh in an ODI – the best part of a decade since the teams played a Test match – and less than half of the players from both sides involved in that most recent meeting are involved in this World Cup.
But Johnson, who claimed three wickets and contributed a breezy 41 from 24 balls in that match at Dhaka’s National Cricket Stadium in 2011, does not feel the need to undergo intensive study to learn more about opponents of whom he has little or no knowledge.
Not due to any sense of complacency or superiority.
Johnson simply prefers to sum up the prevailing conditions and then implement a game plan that best suits his highly potent skills set.
“I don’t like watching footage too much, but there will be some footage there to see of these guys,” Johnson said in Brisbane today as the Australian squad reconvened to begin preparations for the Bangladesh fixture.
“They (Bangladesh) have got some really good players.
“It’s been a while since we played against them but I think playing them at the Gabba is a huge advantage for us and they will know what to expect on a fast bouncy wicket.
“We’ve got to be at our best playing this game, we can’t just go into it thinking we’re going to win it just because Bangladesh are ranked lower than us.
“Some guys like to watch a lot of footage but that’s not for me.
“I like to just go out there and see how it is in the middle.”
Unfortunately, the prevailing wisdom as to what might await in the middle of the Gabba come Saturday afternoon is likely to be dampness.
Depending on which weather sage one speaks to in the Queensland capital, rainfall between now and match day is expected to be between 150mm and 400mm.
The only certainty is that it will be wet in the lead-up to the game and that Bangladesh might be better advised to remain in Canberra (where they play Afghanistan tomorrow) as long as possible as preparation in Brisbane seems set to be conducted primarily at indoor facilities.
The Australians’ first training session since their emphatic tournament-opening win over England is scheduled for the Bupa National Cricket Centre tomorrow, which fortuitously hosts the most advanced indoor practice amenities in the country.
Given the continued unavailability of allrounder James Faulkner with a side injury, the only changes likely to the XI that defeated England last Saturday would be the inclusion of skipper Michael Clarke who has recovered from hamstring surgery.
And possibly the inclusion of Pat Cummins for fellow quick Josh Hazlewood (or even allrounder Shane Watson) if the selectors opt for an all-out pace onslaught.
But as Johnson, who was part of Australia’s undefeated 2007 World Cup campaign in which he didn’t get to play a match, points out, it’s tough to force your way into a winning line-up during such a significant tournament.
“I remember in the West Indies (in 2007 World Cup) being on the sidelines and watching,” Johnson said today.
“I was ready the whole time, I was doing everything I could to make sure I was ready if that opportunity arose so I think that’s what the guys need to do when they’re not in the playing XI.
“It’s always hard, you want to get out there and play in a World Cup, especially when it’s at home. It would be an amazing feeling for those guys to play.
“But you just have to make sure you’re prepared as much as you can be and if performances don’t come up to scratch there might be an opportunity.
“But at the moment, from my point of view you’re playing in a team that’s winning.”
Johnson also heaped praise upon his fellow left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc who has overcome an indifferent performance on his most recent international appearance in Brisbane – the second Commonwealth Bank Test against India last December – to become a vital ODI strike bowler.
Johnson claimed one of the reasons Starc, who was dropped from the Test XI to make way for Ryan Harris’s return after the Brisbane Test but reinstated for the final Test of the summer in Sydney, has struggled to cement a Test berth has been his inability to get an extended stint at that level.
But having cemented a place as one of the ODI team’s front-line players, he has shown the sort of potential that the leader of Australia’s Test attack believes will see Starc establish himself in the line-up in all formats in the short-term.
“He (Starc) has got everything it takes to be a (bowling) spearhead,” Johnson said.
“He’s doing all the right things at the moment, he’s going out there and enjoying himself, bowling fast and swinging the ball and that’s what it’s all about.
“He’s learning every day; the more cricket he plays the more he learns.
“So it’s good to have some senior guys around to help him out and I’m sure if he keeps going the way he is he’ll be a champion one-day bowler and Test bowler in the future.”