Nielsen backs wayward Johnson

Tim Nielsen's insistence that Australia derived "nothing but positives" from their tour match against Northampton could not conceal the unpalatable truth the team faces ahead of the Edgbaston Test. Certainly, a 135-run win and three solid days of competition will have done the tourists no harm after the defeat at Lord's, but with a major decision looming over the make-up of their misfiring bowling attack, there is no avoiding the prevailing nervous zeitgeist in the Australian camp.

Australia have thus far attempted to employ the same fast-bowling blueprint from their triumphant tour of South Africa. Central to that was Mitchell Johnson continuing his prolific, intimidating form of four months ago and playing the role of leader and mentor to the inexperienced duo of Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus.

But those plans require at the very least an urgent review, and probably an overhaul. Johnson's regression from one-man wrecking-ball to walking four-ball this tour has caught the Australians off guard, and with a 1-0 deficit to make-up, the option of omitting him from the starting XI has become a very real possibility.

The pressure of the situation is beginning to tell on the Australians. Nielsen, addressing the media after the match, fairly bristled when it was suggested Australia could no longer afford to accommodate a paceman who haemorrhaged runs at around six-per-over, and managed just one tail-end wicket against the second-division Northamptonshire side.

"The last two years when we've played some pretty good Test match cricket and Mitchell has been at the forefront of that," Nielsen said. "There have been a lot of times when batsmen and bowlers have been out of form and we've stuck with them and shown some faith, unlike the public or the press's point of view. At the moment we're working as hard as we can to get him bowling as well as he possibly can and we feel he's getting closer every time. We'll have a look at the conditions when we get to Edgbaston and make the decision from there."

On current form, conditions would make little difference to Johnson's chances of success. Guilty of straying both sides of the wicket, and unable to find a consistent length, the left-armer's fortunes have deteriorated with each match this tour, to the point where county batsmen have taken to filling their boots against him. The failures are mounting and, worse, compounding; the yearned-for form reversal seems little more than a fanciful dream at this point.

Nielsen would neither confirm nor rule out Johnson for the Edgbaston Test, but did concede that both mental and mechanical factors were contributing to the bowler's decline. Pundits and commentators have speculated that arm height, wrist position and a delicate family situation have all played their part but, whatever the root of the problem, Johnson's once-irresistible combination of express pace, angle across the right-handers and swing - both conventional and reverse - have been conspicuously absent in the UK.

"He's probably feeling every time he gets an edge and it doesn't go to hand," Nielsen said. "At the moment it hasn't worked for him. That's the challenge of this game. You don't walk out every week and get the results that you would have liked. The good players who last for long periods of time have to keep fronting up, whether it be good or bad, and keep doing the right things.

"That's what I was pleased about with Mitchell today. He bowled fast at the end, he kept running in. I'm at him a bit about not dropping his head and not letting himself get too down. He's done that pretty well."

Nielsen shed little light on Australia's likely bowling formation for Edgbaston, but Stuart Clark's case for selection will prove difficult to ignore. The man who levelled England in Australia two years ago has shown few ill-effects from elbow surgery since arriving in the UK, and stands to provide Australia with the accuracy and bounce they lacked at Cardiff and Lord's.

Assuming Ben Hilfenhaus has cemented his place in the XI for Edgbatson, Clark, Johnson and Peter Siddle will duel for just two fast bowling places. Clark would appear to have the early front-running - his 23 overs, as much as his match analysis of 4-74, at Wantage Road allayed concerns over his post-operative state - and the use of Siddle for just four overs in the second innings indicated a willingness from the Australians to save him for the third Test. The picture looks bleak for Johnson.

Both allrounders, Andrew McDonald and Shane Watson, also advanced their causes against Northampton and, depending on conditions, could push Marcus North and possibly Nathan Hauritz for a place in Birmingham. "The attractive option that Watson brings is his bowling and batting," Nielsen said. "Stuart Clark brings us height and bounce and accuracy. We know that. Mitchell Johnson brings us real pace and a left arm.

"Siddle keeps hammering away all day at 145 kph-plus and Hilfenhaus is an outswing bowler. All of those things fit pretty well together if we can bowl at our best. We know we have got the options. Our challenge is to do it as well as we can; to bowl better than we did at Lord's."