At an age when most quicks contemplate a life of payback for the things they did to their bodies as young men, the remarkable Mitchell Johnson made the transition from unsound tearaway – random, fragile, occasional object of derision – to phenomenon. The occasional fits and dazzling flares turned out to be a mere warning. What happened in 2013-14 was an explosion, and his effect on matches, on series – on men – could only be described as fallout. He’d discovered rhythm and accuracy to go with that elastic action, and during that time there’s not a fast man in history we’d have preferred over him. A pedestal in the Pantheon awaits next to Tyson and Thomson.

Published in Inside Cricket, December 2015