The quintessential wingmen

Australia, after facing heart-breaking defeats in India and England last year, bounced back like a warrior and re-gained their most coveted trophy in test cricket, The Ashes. They carried on their good form and defeated the Numero-Uno Test side South Africa in their own backyard and took a 1-0 lead in the 3 Test series. Statistically, Mitchell Johnson was the one player who contributed heavily in Australia’s triumph with 37 wickets in 5 tests during The Ashes and 12 wickets in the first test against South Africa but the credit for these wins cannot be given to this fast bowler alone.

He was aided by the two equally skilled bowlers at the other end who laid the foundation for Johnson to so comprehensively exploit the opposition. Peter Siddle and Ryan Harris in this scenario were the quintessential wingmen to Mitchell Johnson, helping him get those 49 wickets with ease.

What is a wingman?

He is a pilot whose aircraft is positioned behind and outside the leading aircraft in a formation. In colloquial terms a wingman is a person who helps his friend usually from the outside to successfully perform a task. The term was made more famous by the popular sit-com ‘How I met your mother’, where the protagonist’s friends become the wingmen to help him get his way with girls at a bar. Coming back to the argument, if we abide to the definition of a wingman and apply it to the recent matches where Johnson has destroyed the opponents, we will find Siddle and Harris playing the role of a wingman.

Bowling at an average speed of above 140, Mitchell Johnson is known to intimidate the batsman and recently he has been converting those intimidating deliveries into wicket taking ones as well. But he has been in the team for a very long time and was known to be inconsistent and the one who would squander runs but get a few wickets to neutralize that. What is the difference in style of a bowler that would turn his fortunes completely so soon?

Apparently none, Mitchell Johnson is still bowling with the same action, a bit unorthodox and round arm which technically makes it difficult for a bowler to stick to one line throughout his spell, which he still doesn’t. The difference has been the assistance he is getting from the other end. Peter Siddle is one of finest bowlers today; he has the ability to swing the ball while his USP is his consistency to bowl at one spot.

His recent statistics would cast doubt in the minds of the follower for a moment but then again a wingman does what he does not to get credit for it. He along with Ryan Harris put pressure on the batsman by bowling at one spot and restraint the runs. One occasional delivery would be short while most of them would be at good length. When Johnson comes to bowl from the other end, hetricks the batsman with his pitched up deliveries and the tethered batsman sees an opportunity to score runs. The result of which is what we call the 49 wickets in 6 test matches.

This tactic of curbing runs from one end and attacking from the other is not new to cricket, it is something that has been tried and tested and has won many games for teams. This became the difference between South Africa and Australia in the 1st Test where Australia had two bowlers playing a role of a wingman and one going all out to annihilate, South Africa’s bowlers had other tactics. Dale Steyn and MorneMorkel being the senior players have a role in the team to pick up wickets but the role of a wingman is not assigned to anybody.

Even Vernon Philander and Ryan McLaren try to go for the kill while bowling. When going for the kill the one thing which they miss out is that they don’t want to stick to one spot and stop the flow of runs. They try and experiment to find the weak spot of the batsman and get him out, which is a tactic that would work wonders against a team like India who faces troubles playing fast bowling on pitches outside the sub-continent but with teams like Australia who are playing on conditions akin to home, the tactic has to change and someone has to take up the role of a wingman and work covertly towards the success.

There is no doubt about the ability of Mitchell Johnson, but the reason why he was inconsistent earlier was because he was expected to play the role of a wingman in a team where Brett Lee was the protagonist and Johnson’s style of bowling is just not suited for that job. Now that he has found the perfect opportunity to openly bowl with his unconventional slingshot action, his success should not be credited to him alone, the people who demand no reward for playing a role that goes unnoticed by the naked eye should also be applauded. After-all even if the bowler gets a lot of wickets from one end it is also because of the pressure put by the wingman at the other end and without hesitation I would call these wingman the undercover agent of the cricket world, who render their services without accreditation.