Former Australian cricketer Mitchell Johnson left SAS Australia on Channel 7 in an emotional exit, revealing the mental strain an insulting chant placed on him during a lackluster Ashes series.
During the second game of the Ashes series in 2009 at Lord’s, Johnson struggled to find a match for his bowling in the home of cricket.
The Paceman finished the friendly with 3/200 and Australia lost with 115 runs.
England’s supporters, widely known as the Barmy Army, wrote a cheeky chant for the Australian left that reverberated on the cricket fields for the remainder of Johnson’s professional career.
Johnson remained Australia’s most skilled pace bowler leading into the much-anticipated 2010-11 ashes, but the series couldn’t have started worse for the Queenslander.
England’s batsman showed no mercy at Johnson’s wayward bowling and finished the first test in the gabba with terrible numbers of 0/170 out of 42 overs. He was dropped immediately before the next game in Adelaide.
“I think if you play a top sport you have to have that confidence,” Johnson said SAS Australia.
“(The 2009 Ashes) didn’t really go according to plan. I bowled a bit everywhere. And here the Barmy Army began: “Bowls on the left, bowls on the right, Mitchell Johnson, your bowling sucks”.
“The media, the Barmy Army, really got through to me. I was singing the song in my head when I was playing – so emotional that it had a massive impact on me and I just kind of fell apart. “
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During a physical challenge in the episode of the military-inspired reality series on Tuesday evening, the celebrities had to drag a 100kg tree trunk to the top of a mountain in rough terrain. Johnson gave up in the middle of the task.
“I can’t make excuses, it’s just not good enough,” he shouted.
On an emotional phone call with his girlfriend, Johnson said he couldn’t stand up against the psychological element of the extreme reality show.
“I just couldn’t do it. I just mentally thought I was a little stronger, ”he said.
At the beginning of the series, the former pace bowler revealed his battle with depression.
He also admitted he lost his love of the game while touring South Africa in 2011, where he claimed three wickets at a dismal bowling average of 85.00.
“I got to the point where I stopped enjoying being a professional cricketer,” said Johnson.
“I didn’t enjoy being looked at and judged all the time. I just took everything personally. I was exhausted physically and mentally exhausted.
“I got to a point where I didn’t care a little about cricket. It wasn’t even a thought in my head. I just didn’t have faith in myself that I was good enough.
“I struggle with confidence sometimes and am now in this transition where I haven’t played cricket for two years.”
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When asked whether he found this transition difficult, he replied: “Yes. I found out that I suffered from depression. I think I had the depression at a young age. Cricket kind of got things out of the way, it kind of hid the depression.
“But there have been many times that you go back to your room… you’re away from family and you start to think about things. I’ve just looked at it during my cricket career. It’s just about me moving forward now and taking it on and being active and keeping my thoughts going. “
Johnson is Australia’s fourth highest wicket taker in history, surpassed only by Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Brett Lee. He ended his testing career with 313 wickets at 28:40.
– with Bianca Mastroianni
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