Waqar Younis says Mitchell Johnson will be better than Wasim Akram
By Ben Dorries
January 13, 2010
Pakistan pace legend Waqar Younis believes Mitchell Johnson is destined to surge past the great Wasim Akram and become Test cricket's most successful left-arm fast bowler.
As Johnson spoke with pride and passion about what it means to him to lead the new-look Australian attack, Waqar handed him the ultimate accolade.
Waqar said he had "no doubt" the Australia strike weapon would rattle past Wasim's 414 wickets before his Test career is over.
"Nobody is better than Wasim but I have no doubt that if Johnson stays fit he will take more than 400 Test wickets, maybe a fair bit more," Waqar said.
Johnson (142 wickets from 31 Tests) still has a way to go to match Wasim, who tormented the world's top batsmen for 17 years.
But Johnson, 28, already boasts a strike rate of a wicket every 51.88 balls -- superior to Wasim's career strike rate of 54.65.
Waqar, who with Wasim formed one of cricket's most formidable new-ball partnerships, believes Johnson only needs to stay on the field to knock his old teammate off the record books.
"Johnson's record is superb and I think it shows he will have a great Test career," Waqar said. "He is probably at his best right now but there is no reason he can't play for another five or six years which will means he will take a lot of Test wickets."
Johnson's career spike has been so rapid that he needs only 45 more wickets to surpass Alan Davison (186 Test wickets) as Australia's most successful left-arm fast bowler.
He will then have only Wasim, Sri Lankan swing king Chaminda Vaas (355 Test wickets) and Indian quick Zaheer Khan (220) ahead of him in Test cricket's elite left-arm pace club.
Johnson is enjoying an extraordinary revival considering he was on the verge of being dropped during the Ashes last year but then surged to be the world's best-performed paceman with 63 Test wickets in 2009.
He no longer bowls with the new ball but, in Hobart, where the third Test starts tomorrow, he spoke about being the senior leader of an attack containing Peter Siddle (16 Tests) and Doug Bollinger (5 Tests).
"I've played 30 games and some of the guys coming through now have only played a few so
I feel that's my responsibility to speak to those guys about conditions and the guys that we are playing against," Johnson said.
"Going through England was a good test for me and that helped me get to where I am now.
"You've heard guys like Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee talk about peak age being around this age, 27 to 29. I feel like I'm starting to get to know my game a hell of a lot better."
Waqar said Johnson often bowled deliveries that are unplayable.
"He has a slinging action and bowls very close to the stumps and seems to be able to get good reverse swing," he said.
"He is the best bowler in Australia since Brett Lee came on to the scene."
I mentioned the fielding because they both seem to be pretty average batsmen but unlike Malik who was dropping catches all series (and even started to not even bother attempting them) Iqbal can catch.
