Confident Johnson wants to carry on

Australia’s leading speedster on the current tour to South Africa, Mitchell Johnson, is hoping to bowl in the same devastating fashion and has cautioned the Proteas openers to expect a fiery start. 

Johnson is the leading bowler with 12 wickets from two Tests and has also excelled with the bat, scoring a career-best 96 not out in his Man-of-the-Match performance in Johannesburg. 

With 90 wickets from just 20 Test matches, the left-arm pacer has given enough proof of his class. If the records of former fast bowlers are taken into account, then Johnson has managed to create a space of his own. Glenn McGrath had 80 wickets from his first 20 games, Richard Hadlee had 76 scalps and the Caribbean giant Curtly Ambrose had 80 to his credit. Among the few to have claimed more wickets than Johnson in their first 20 Tests include his mentor, Dennis Lillee (91), Jeff Thomson (94) and South Africa's Allan Donald (95). 

Entering the third Test, starting at Newlands on Thursday, South Africa have Graeme Smith's broken finger and Jacques Kallis' facial stitches as reminders of Johnson's ferocious capabilities. 

Swinging it in: 

One weapon missing in Johnson’s arsenal was the in-swinger to the right-handed batsman. Johnson's stock ball cuts across the right-hander and ever since his debut, Johnson has been trying to get the ball back in to the right hander. 

The hard work of Troy Cooley (Australian bowling coach) and his mentor Dennis Lillee finally paid off in the first Test. The second delivery of his first over to Neil McKenzie swung back in and it seemed to have boosted his confidence, as three deliveries later he got the wicket of South African skipper, Greame Smith. 

“It put a smile on my face when it came about," Johnson said. "I knew I'd done all the hard work in the nets. It wasn't like it just happened out of the blue,” he said. 

For the final Test, South Africa has brought in Ashwell Prince and Imraan Khan to open the batting in place of Smith and Neil McKenzie – who has been dropped from the squad. 

"He's (Prince) got a good record and has been performing very well recently, so you've still got to be wary of that type of player," said Johnson. 

The pacer also hinted that, rookie, Khan can expect some short stuff from him. 

“We're pretty keen to have a go at their guys. We'll have a look at those guys on video and see what we can do.” 

"We'll have a bowlers' meeting in the next day or so and talk about those two players.” 

"It's going to be exciting for him in his first Test and hopefully we can make it hard for him,” he concluded.