Johnson has already made a massive impact upon his return

Australia captain Michael Clarke had defended himself, saying that he never lost faith in pace bowler Mitchell Johnson, even after he was sidelined for over a year with a foot injury during the team’s tour to South Africa in November 2011.

Johnson recently made his international return and has looked more dangerous than ever as his run-up woes have been solved and his lethal bouncers continue to trouble a majority of international batsmen.

During his time on the sidelines, Johnson was replaced by youngsters Mitchell Starc and James Pattinson, which made it extremely tough for him to regain a spot on the national team, however, it was only after pace bowler Ben Hilfenhaus’ side injury that Johnson was given the opportunity to play Test cricket once again and he came back with a vengeance.

Vengeance may not even be the right word to describe his return since Johnson’s deliveries had so much venom behind them that Sri Lanka wicketkeeper batsman Kumar Sangakkara felt the full brunt of one and had his hand fractured in the process.

Clarke believes that Johnson is one of the most skilled and hard-working individuals he has ever met and added that he would not be surprised if the pace bowler was involved in Australia’s back-to-back Ashes campaign later this year.

Clarke also seems to feel that Johnson’s time away from the game has refreshed his body and mind and made him hungrier for success than ever before.

Johnson had an excellent showing with both the bat and ball during the second Test against Sri Lanka in Melbourne, where he scored 92 not out in Australia’s first innings and ended up leaving the Sri Lankan batsmen battered and bruised as he not only fractured the hand of Sangakkara, but also broke the thumb of substitute wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene.