Mitchell Johnson could yet feature for Australia

In with a shout:: Mitchell Johnson could still play in the second ODI
10 April 2012

Australia coach Tim Nielsen has refused to rule paceman Mitchell Johnson out of the second one-day international against India.

Cricket Australia indicated earlier in the day the left-armer had succumbed to an ankle injury and would join Brett Lee and James Hopes on the sidelines.

But while fast bowler Lee and all-rounder Hopes are definitely out, Nielsen was more optimistic over Johnson's chances of playing in Nagpur tomorrow.

"Mitchell woke up a lot better this morning than we thought he would be when we drafted him in the media release yesterday evening," Nielsen said.

"So it is really pleasing to see him get up today and shine.

"We will see how he pulls up after the training session today but all the indications are that he might well be available tomorrow."

The Australian team was left in a quandary following the spate of injuries and Johnson's fitness offers them a ray of hope.

"It was a bit of scatter-bomb yesterday," Nielsen said.

"I don't remember a team losing three bowlers in one day. It was unusual circumstances.

"But at this stage Mitchell is not completely out, Brett is probably out for one game and we expect Hopes to miss the next two."

Nielsen admitted Lee and Johnson were vital to the team and their absence would hit the team's bowling at the death, but the Australia coach said it offered the youngsters a great opportunity.

"We certainly are inexperienced in that area (bowling at the death)," he said.

"If Mitchell and Brett cannot play then we are losing about 300 matches in ODIs in terms of their experience.

"And we are talking about six or seven (games) between Ben Hilfenhaus and Doug Bollinger.

"Having said that, it must be said that the only way the young players learn or get better is from getting exposure.

"You can practice all the yorkers in the nets but it is so difficult to bowl to someone like Sachin (Tendulkar) or Harbhajan (Singh) when they are on a roll and the crowd are going.

"You know Bollinger got five wickets against Pakistan, Hilfenhaus is learning about one-day cricket all the time and Shaun Marsh is waiting for a big opportunity.

"Nathan Hauritz is also getting better and better and Peter Siddle has now been given an opportunity to lead the attack.

"It helps develop depth in our team."

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