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Mitchell Johnson continued to expose the overrated opponent batsmen, who are supposed to have good technique against pace and bounce, with his hostile spell of 4 wickets for 52 runs at centurion on day 2 of first test match between Australia and South Africa.

fired-up mitchell johnson bullied south africa

The scorecard at the stumps on day 2 read South Africa 140/6 in their first innings. Earlier Australia were bowled out for 397 runs in their first innings with dale steyn claiming 4 wickets for 78 runs. The detailed scorecard looked like this at the end of second day:

Australia vs South Africa scorecard, centurion test 2014, day 2 stumps

South African batsmen never looked settled against constant short pitch bowling from Mitchell Johson. Graeme Smith, in particular, looked like a sitting duck with both legs tied together when facing bowling of Australia. His misery ended when he got out awkwardly fending off a bouncer directed in rib cage by johnson in his first spell. Petersen was next to go playing bad shot to get out. Hashim Amla continued his poor form with bat and was again got out at low score after scoring series of low scores in last series against India. Short ball again claimed Faf du Plesis as he chose to sit in comfort of dressing room rather than guts it out in the middle. Duminy threw his wicket away against a spin of Nathan Lyon. At the end of second day AB de Villiers was on the crease batting not out on 52 along with Robin Peterson batting at 10.

Overall it was australia's day and cricket fans had much to say.

steve48 says: "The way he bowls at the tail, MJ on fir an 8 for! I am a proud Pom, but have followed this guy since Dennis Lillee made his prediction; having read 'The Art of Fast Bowling ' as a kid, and watched him terrorise my then hero Dennis Amiss, I figured he knew what he was on about! Always suspected he would eventually ram our taunts down our throats, cos when he gets it right, no batsman seems safe, of body or stumps! No offence to South Africa, but nice to see its not just us English who struggle with his pace, aggression and angle. Can't have been a quicker left armer, with all due respect to wasim akram, the most skilled quick I think I have seen. So much on DeVilliers now, then if Steyn is fit and firing, could be a few twists left in this game. But ABD really needs to protect that tail. MJ made Swann and Broad look like Phil Tufnell!"

Paul-Rone Clarke says: "Some small vindication from those who asserted that wasn't just England being really poor that cost them the ashes The MJ factor played a big part.
Smith and Marsh batted well, but the extra 5kmph that MJ gets above Steyn or Morkel pushes the comfort envelope of all but the most extremely good of batsmen. Small margins make big differences in cricket.

How many people were amazed when the radar gun first began to find that a spinner bowls at 60%+ the speed of a seamer? Warne bowls 60 McGrath bowled 84 - you'd swear the ratio must be far higher than that. So it is with the extra pace MJ brings. 4 mph might as well be all the difference in the world. He looks so much more threatening than Steyn or Morkel you'd think they were playing on different pitches
For SA DeVilliers is a class apart - - and the Saffers best hope of salvaging something from a series that already looks to be heading the Aussies way" 

BradmanBestEver says: "McDermott should be applauded for his bold, accurate statement that MJ is the best fast bowler in the world today. Today's performance by MJ as compared to Steyn's over the past 2 days, coupled with MJ's destruction of England over 5 tests proves McDermott is correct. Lillee's statement that MJ is a "one-in-a-generation" bowler has also been proven. At 32 how long can MJ's dominance last?if only we had another MJ."

captain tuk tuk who lives in pakistan has become an aussie fan "I live in Pakistan but I an an Ausis fan now because I am a true cricket fan. Ausis did really well Micheal Johnson just as expected by us Ausis fans did a great job but we must give credit to DeVillars who is playing really well against the most fearsome attack in these conditions I doubt the trio of Styen, Philander and Morkel is as good as Johnson, Haris and Siddle in these conditions well played AB."

Predictably there are heaps of praise showering on Mitchell Johnson, and he deserves it as well, as Cricket Australia continue to surge towards becoming the number 1 test side in ICC rankings, once again.