Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson may quit limited-overs cricket to prolong his test career with an eye on the 2015 Ashes series in England, the fast bowler said on Tuesday.
The 32-year-old has been Australia’s talisman in a spectacular recent run, bowling them to a whitewash of arch-rivals England and a series victory in South Africa with hostile pace bowling.
A toe infection kept him out of Australia’s doomed World Twenty20 campaign in Bangladesh where they could not advance beyond the group stage and Johnson spent the time in Perth pondering his future.
“Probably not,” he told www.cricket.com.au when asked if his body was ready for the rigours of all three formats of the game.
“Twenty20, I will quite happily say, is not my favourite format – I would rather play test cricket.
“And maybe one-day (50-over international) cricket I have to look at as well.”
Johnson has unfinished business in 50-over cricket and wants to go out after winning the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand next year.
“I’d like to win a World Cup – I’ve been involved in the West Indies in 2007 which was a well-paid holiday apparently,” said the fearsome pacer, who did not play a single game throughout the tournament in West Indies where Australia completed a hat-trick of titles.
“…I would love to be a part of Australia’s 2015 World Cup and I certainly think we’ve got the team to win it.
“We’ve played some really good one-day cricket and given that it’s being played at home, it would be a great opportunity.”
It is, however, the traditional Anglo-Australian battle which dominates his future plans.
“My main goal now is to get to that 2015 Ashes series in England, so I’ll be doing everything I can to reach that goal,” he said.
