Australian Veteran Pacer Retires From All Forms of Cricket

Mitchell Johnson, the 36-year-old veteran Australian pace bowler, had recently announced his retirement from all forms of the game.

Cricket news: He has now decided to channel his inner competitive urge into coaching or mentoring

He had retired from playing international matches way back in 2015 and was playing in different T20 leagues around the world.

He was also part of the IPL 2018 season where he played for Kolkata Knight Riders and was part of the six games where he took two wickets.

Johnson had hoped that he could play in various T20 leagues till the mid of 2019 but his body is not cooperating with him and he has admitted that he has been suffering from back problems since IPL 2018.

He had thanked the team management of Perth Scorchers and had revealed that he is interested for coaching or mentoring duties in the future.

“It is over. I’ve bowled my final ball. Taken my final wicket. Today I announce my retirement from all forms of cricket,” Johnson was quoted as saying by PerthNow. “I had hoped to continue playing in various Twenty20 competitions around the world until perhaps the middle of next year. But the fact is my body is starting to shut down. During this year’s Indian Premier League tournament I had a few back problems and that was probably a sign that it was time to move on.”

“If I can’t play at 100 per cent then I can’t give my best to the team. And for me it’s always been about the team. I’d like to thank the Scorchers for the last two fantastic summers and the WACA for everything my adopted cricket home has done for me over the past decade. Christina Matthews and the team there have always bent over backwards to help me out. A huge thank you to the fans as well.”

The retired pacer was very successful because of his fiery pace bowling and his best performance was against Australia in the 2013-14 Ashes series.

“I will never forget the atmosphere at the WACA Ground or the smiling faces of the kids. My competitive urge hasn’t left me and hopefully, that’s something I can use to channel into a coaching or mentoring role in the future. I’m a believer in sticking to your strengths and cricket is my strength,” he added.