5 reasons for Australia's turnaround in the Ashes

In cricketing parlance, the Australian side managed to have all the bases covered this time around. They batted well, were brutal with the ball and fluid in the field. But to put things in perspective, here are a few plausible reasons behind the transformation of the Aussie team from a meek, effete outfit into something completely contrasting.

Mitchell Johnson

Mitchell Johnson

Could have been the entire Aussie bowling unit, really. Harris, Siddle, and at times even Watson and Lyon. But the singling out wasn’t without reason. Others have looked menacing, but none came even close to what Johnson was putting on display at an alarming regularity, bowling like a man possessed, even though one could argue that the shot selection by the English did have a great deal to do with that.

Ever since the stint with the Mumbai Indians last season, there has been a visible spring in his step. In the recently concluded away ODI series against India too, he was their best bowler, and was flown back prior to the last match allegedly for Ashes’ preparation, giving rise to much hullabaloo.

He ruled the first three English innings in the series, and currently has 23 scalps at 15.47 with a strike rate of a wicket every 33 balls from the three matches played as of now. With his place in the side in doubts sometime back, this is certainly some redemption to cherish.

The first innings’ scores of the English team in this series outline the sorry state of affairs. With a string of low/average scores none of which exceeded 400, the English bowlers had a hard time defending the paltry runs on the board.

He was beyond doubt the most destructive. Even when he did not manage too many wickets in the remaining three innings, as Ian Chappel pointed out, the wickets tumbling at the other end were largely because of his bowling, because forget about scoring, the batsmen were busy trying to save their paraphernalia from his onslaught.

To add to that, he even bailed them out with the bat in the first match.