Mitchell Johnson’s Autobiography ‘Resilience’ Review
Mitchell Johnson’s autobiography, Resilient, details the cricketer’s journey from a scrawny boy from Townsville to becoming one of Australia’s greatest fast bowlers in history. The compelling read explores all the highs and lows of Johnson’s career, from the pitiless tour of South Africa in 2011 in which he wished to get injured in order to avoid selection, to his sublime player-of-the-series performance in the 5-0 whitewash of the 2013-14 Ashes.
My favourite part of the book is easily the story of fast bowling legend Dennis Lillee watching Johnson bowl for the first time. Lillee first witnessed Johnson bowl at a camp in Brisbane, where after watching only three balls he was already on the phone to Rod Marsh at the Cricket Academy in Adelaide. The Australian Under-19s squad was preparing to tour England in a few months’ time, and Lillee wanted Johnson at a lead-up camp at the academy. Marsh was dubious, but Lillee compared Johnson to a young Brett Lee and within two days, Johnson was at the camp and was later on another plane to England for the Under-19s tour. The rest is history.
Unfortunately, Johnson’s continuous blind backing of good friend Shane Watson taints an otherwise great read. On countless occasions, Johnson throws his support behind the former Test all-rounder, and to the point it appears he is trying to make amends for Watson through his autobiography. One such instance is where Johnson goes on a tangent about Watson’s response to the homework-gate saga of 2013, while writing little to nothing on the others sent home such as Usman Khawaja and James Pattinson (Johnson himself was eventually sent home too). His lack of support for Khawaja and Pattinson wasn’t the frustrating thing – rather that Johnson’s support for his friend comes across discerning and biased.
I recommend to any Australian sports fan. Through his success, Johnson gave all Australian cricket fans plenty of reasons to be proud of Australia, and a never-ending bank of epic memories. He reminded the game’s followers of how truly special it is to see a frighteningly quick bower steam in with his tail up to terrorise batsmen, as he did exceptionally well in the 2013-14 Ashes. Johnson also offered a living and breathing example of a sportsman with remarkable resilience, an attribute central to sporting success at elite levels. Most Australian sports fans, and cricket fans in particular, would thoroughly enjoy reading an engaging insight into a career of that kind.
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