Mitchell Johnson looks set to miss the Adelaide Test following his wicketless performance in the first Test at Brisbane, as Australia’s selectors prepare to ring the changes
Andrew Miller in Adelaide01-Dec-2010Mitchell Johnson looks set to miss the Adelaide Test following his wicketless performance in Brisbane, as Australia’s selectors prepare to ring the changes in a bowling attack that conceded a massive 517 for 1 in England’s second innings. According to reports in the Australian media, Johnson was informed of his omission by Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, with his place in the side set to go to fellow left-arm fast bowler, Doug Bollinger.The official team confirmation is not expected until the eve of the Test, but Johnson was conspicuous by his absence from Australia’s net practice on Wednesday morning, a session in which Bollinger and Ryan Harris, the other fast bowler vying for inclusion, cranked up the pace in a bid to impress the watching selectors, Hilditch and Jamie Cox.”I tried to bat in the other net, didn’t I?” joked Australia’s vice-captain, Michael Clarke, who has declared himself fully fit after appearing to be hampered in the Brisbane Test by a back condition. “They’re both class acts, no doubt. They’ve both had success in international cricket, whether that be in one-day or Tests, and they’re both looking forward to an opportunity. The selectors have obviously got a tough job, but we’ve got to pick the attack we think can take 20 wickets on a pretty good batting wicket.”The website that broke the apparent story of Johnson’s omission, , claimed that he had chosen to miss practice following a bust-up with the selectors, but Clarke insisted that Johnson’s absence had been a consequence of his heavy workload on the final two days at the Gabba, in which he had bowled 27 wicketless overs for 104, for overall match figures of 0 for 170.”Mitch is fine,” said Clarke. “He’s had a bat today – again he wasn’t bowling today, in preparation for the Test, to allow his body to have a bit of a rest. All of us face criticism throughout our career – sometimes more often than not, especially when you’re not scoring as many runs or taking as many wickets as you’d like. But he’s faced it before; I’m sure he’ll face it again. He’s looking forward to this opportunity in this Test match, and if he gets his chance I’m sure he’ll grab it with both hands.”Clarke, meanwhile, believes he is in the right form and frame of mind to make amends for his own off-colour performance in Brisbane. He came into that match under a fitness cloud, having required injections to ease the pain of a long-standing back complaint, and made just 9 from 50 balls in his only innings of the match, with James Anderson, in particular, starving him of scoring opportunities. However, during a lengthy bat on Wednesday, Clarke looked to be moving much more freely at the crease, and believes he is better prepared for action this time around.”My back feels fine,” said Clarke. “I didn’t play as well as I would’ve liked both with the bat and in the field during the first Test, but I certainly can’t blame my back for that. I thought I was definitely fit enough to perform in that Test and unfortunately I didn’t do as well as I would’ve liked, but I certainly have no excuse from my back.”While he claimed not to have been directly affected by his back in Brisbane, Clarke conceded that the need for treatment before the match had impacted his preparations for the Gabba Test, especially as he had just come off the back of a century in the Sheffield Shield for New South Wales against Victoria. “I didn’t play the second four-day game that I’d planned to play,” he said. “I know the selectors would’ve preferred me not to play it anyway, but I felt like I was hitting the ball well and if I was fully fit I probably would’ve played against Tasmania. In some way it did affect my preparation but I had no excuses.”I guess you’re always concerned when you don’t make any runs,” he added. “It probably wasn’t one of my most entertaining innings in my career, I certainly struggled a bit, but I only got one bat, and I didn’t get a second hit in that game on what looked to be a better wicket in the second innings, but hopefully I’ve saved few for this Test in Adelaide.”Clarke spent much of his practice session on Wednesday under the watchful eye of his captain, Ricky Ponting, whom he says has a knack for spotting slight flaws in his technique. “I was just working on a few things,” he said. “Obviously Punter’s seen me bat for a long time now through my career and picks things up at training, so I was getting him to throw me a few balls and get him to have a look and see what his thoughts were.”He was just mentioning that I was a bit low in my stance, so I just tried to stand a little bit taller and see if it worked,” added Clarke. “I felt a little bit better, if you saw my net session I struggled at the start there and felt like it got better throughout a pretty long net session so that was good. It happens all the time; it happens every session.”Ricky and I do a lot of work, with my batting and my catching,” he added. “He’s obviously scored a hell of a lot of runs and taken a hell of a lot of catches, so if I can’t learn from him I’ll never learn.”