Mitchell Guy Johnson (born 2 November 1981 in Townsville, Queensland) is an Australian cricketer. After being identified as a leading fast bowling prospect by Dennis Lillee when aged 17, Johnson joined the Australian Under-19 side, though back injuries hampered his prospects. However, he recovered to allow his first-class career to start two years later, when he was selected to play for his native Queensland. In September 2005, he was in the Australia A cricket team that toured Pakistan. In December 2005, Johnson was selected for the Australian one-day international team, making his debut against New Zealand in Christchurch, with chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns justifying the selection on the grounds of grooming players for the future.
Johnson gave the first signs of his potential at international level against the strong Indian batting line-up in a one-day international at Malaysia, Johnson's 7th. He took 4-11 off just 4 overs, including the wickets of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh. Johnson then played in the Australian 2006 ICC Champions Trophy team, and in the group A match against England he took 3/40, giving further evidence of his skill with the ball. His victims included Kevin Pietersen. Johnson was chosen to be in the squad for the first Ashes Test beginning on November 23, 2006, and was 12th man in all of the Tests.
On January 26 2007, Johnson took 4 wickets and took 3-0 in 8 balls in an incisive spell of bowling for which he earned man of the match honours.
Full name : Mitchell Guy Johnson
Born :November 2, 1981, Townsville, Queensland
Batting style : Left-hand bat
Bowling style : Left-arm fast-medium
ODI debut : New Zealand v Australia at Christchurch - Dec 10, 2005
The 2009 ICC World Twenty20 is a Twenty20 cricket tournament scheduled to take place in England in June of 2009. It will be the second World Twenty20 and will consist of 12 teams, contested by all Test-playing nations plus qualifiers (Ireland, Netherlands and Scotland)
The Champions Twenty20 League, formed with the official sanction of ICC will kick off in October 2008. Eight domestic teams from four nations will participate. Cricket Australia will partner the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket South Africa (CSA). The champion team in the Champions Twenty20 league will get US $5 million, which is the highest ever prize money for a cricket event.
