Ashes: Aussies look to 'cook' England some more, says Johnson

Fast-bowler’s seven-wicket blitz leaves opposition in tatters on day three


Afp December 07, 2013
Mitchell Johnson shattered England's hopes of a series-levelling win in the second Test with one of the great Ashes bowling spells to hand Australia a massive 398-run innings lead Saturday. PHOTO: AFP

ADELAIDE: Mitchell Johnson said Saturday Australia want to ‘cook’ England a bit more in the field before going after another landslide win over England in the second Ashes Test.

Johnson, still sporting his drooping moustache, was the destroyer with seven for 40 bringing England to their knees and leaving them facing a mounting 530-run deficit as Australia look to go two-up in the five-Test series against the Ashes holders.

England could not handle Johnson's sheer pace as the left-arm speedster carried on from his man-of-the-match Brisbane performance to put the tourists once again on the rack.

Johnson, who said he will keep his ‘magical mo’ for the remainder of the series, promised more pain for England on Sunday's fourth day before the home side look to finish off the tourists.

"We want to get them back out there in the field and keep cooking them a bit," Johnson told reporters.

"The runs are irrelevant at the moment, but we probably will be looking at keeping them out there for a bit longer, hopefully see Davey [Warner] get his hundred and then having a real crack and have a bit of time at them.

"You could see the amount of spin the two spinners were getting out there today and that variable bounce has definitely come in and they got the ball to reverse really early, so it's good signs for us."

Johnson ‘in the zone’

Johnson is the undeniable man of the series so far, with 16 wickets including a seven-for in the first innings at Adelaide.

He has taken his scalps at miserly 8.9 runs per wicket said he was ‘in the zone’ in England's feeble innings total of 172.

"The ball came out of my hand exactly the way I wanted it to," he said.

"There was a bit of talk of me not hitting the stumps at Brisbane. But I was excited about the variable bounce, the reverse swing that Adelaide provides. It was really nice today, really nice feeling. I just went hard.

"You have to enjoy these moments when they come along because they don't always happen and I'm going to enjoy it tonight."

Meanwhile, Ian Bell said England must quickly fix their problems if they are to keep the Ashes from the dominant Australians.

"Obviously, it's another disappointing performance,” said Bell. “You can't afford in Test matches, certainly the first innings you have, to get bowled out for under 200 ... you're not going to win anything.

"We need to fix it pretty quickly if we want to get back into this series.”

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