Dale Steyn vs Mitchell Johnson: Who is more fearsome at his best?

[Night_wolf]

Dale Steyn vs Mitchell Johnson: A much-awaited contest

His senior team-mates had once again crumbled against another Mitchell Johnson’s fearsome spell. Debutante Gary Ballance was stuck in the middle like a fish surrounded by sharks. While he would have wanted to impress the selectors, at the same time, he would have known the inevitable – departure to the English dressing room. Mitchell Johnson came running towards the youngster and fired a bouncer that hit him in the middle of the helmet and the ball popped near George Bailey at short silly point, after making a heartbreaking sound. While Ballance clearly lost his balance, Bailey immediately looked at the ball with a grin on his face. He wasn’t bothered if the ball had lost its shine, his immediate reaction reflected something else – he was probably looking if the ball had some blood. That one nasty delivery summed up Johnson’s frightening spell throughout the series.

http://zeenews.india.com/blog/brutal...test_6903.html


Read the article, its nice...Who do BC think is the most fearsome fast bowler at the moment?..Dale Steyn or M Jhonson?..or or The Gnagstaaa Rubel??..ok fine ignore the last one!

who would you pick to bowl as a captain if you can chose only one!

[Gowza]

it depends on where they are playing, in subcon steyn but anywhere else johnson. johnson is clearly bowling better than steyn atm and also he has that scare factor of being pacey and dangerous even when steyn is at his best i don't think batsmen fear him him in that sense, certainly would fear he'd take their wicket though.

[Alvi]

Steyn is better at his best, but he is not fearsome in the sense that he targets bodies, nor is he as pacey. But Steyn is defintely harder to play at his best.

I also think the lack of very fast bowlers these days has made Johnson more fearsome than he should be. Batsmen aren't used to playing that sort of pace. In ODIs, I think Johnson would be far less effective as good batsmen could use his pace to hit him for boundaries.

[aklemalp]

I think that Dale Steyn is a more accomplished bowler than Johnson, Johnson is only good on good bowling wickets. Steyn on the other hand is a master in all counries, so who's better?

[horizon]

Dale Steyn India avg 20 something, MJs India avg is 40 something. If the pitch doesn't have good bounce, DS can use late swing, reverse swing and line and length to trouble batsmen. MJ is single dimensional - if the ball doesn't rise over waist, he's dead.

[Navo]

There's a reason why Steyn has a far better career average and an astounding strike rate. Johnson has had 2 spectacular series in his career - against SA in SA in 2009 and the last Ashes. This could potentially be his third. Then again, Johnson has been known to be an emotionally fragile bowler in the past, so who knows, an inspired batting counter attack could cause him to lapse into his old, erratic ways.

Mind you, I love watching Johnson bowl in such a fashion, long may it last.

[Gowza]

Surely anyone based on long term would pick steyn but being if we are talking about currently (which is how I voted) then I'd pick Johnson, but as I said that's if it's not in subcon because steyn is the easy pick then.

[Night_wolf]

Pitch wan't in Mitch's favor in this test match and the result was poor...i guess styne doesn't relay on pitch as much as mitch does

[NoName]

Steyn is much better, but at the moment Johnson is in a surreal form.

[Gowza]

Originally Posted by NoName
Steyn is much better, but at the moment Johnson is in a surreal form.

this is very true. johnson in this group of matches had brought his test average from 30+ down into the 27s. steyn is consistently averaging in the 22s.

[horizon]

Slower lower pitch neutralized MJ in this test.

[aklemalp]

Did u guys saw how lethal steyn was with the older ball. Reverse swinging the ball like waqar and wasim

[5tonne]

I think some of us misread the thread title. OP didn't ask about quality, consistency or wicket taking ability nor did he ask who was a better bowler. The word he used was 'fear'. No doubt Johnson is in distant second when it comes to consistency, swing and adaptability but in terms of fear factor I would keep Johnson ahead of Steyn 'at the moment'. Sure Steyn has the pace,accuracy & swing and those elements get him a lot more wicket than Johnson but he is not as physically threatening as Johnson 'currently' is with his new found pace and bounce. Even at Port Elizabeth Johnson was hitting batsmen consistently although he didnt get many wickets. Its his pace, sidearm action and length of the ball make the bouncers awkward. Credit goes to Dennis Lillee.

[Jadukor]

fearsome? i would have to go with MJ. That guy can send our entire batting order to the hospital at the moment.

[sir john]

steyn is more lethal everywhere

[Gowza]

fearsome and lethal are different. johnson, the current version at least has the pace and bounce to scare a batsman. steyn the after his amazing t20 over showed he's still the most lethal.

[NoName]

Originally Posted by Jadukor
fearsome? i would have to go with MJ. That guy can send our entire batting order to the hospital at the moment.

More like the psychiatric ward, and that is if they were told they'll be facing Johnson tomorrow!

[cricman]

MJ right now, people forget he did really well in Australia's ODI Series in India right before the Ashes.

Sachin even Tipped Australia to win the Ashes because of MJ.

[horizon]

Originally Posted by cricman
MJ right now, people forget he did really well in Australia's ODI Series in India right before the Ashes.

- Did he? what's his numbers?