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JEFF THOMSON went along for the ride when Mitchell Johnson took Australian cricket fans on a nostalgic journey back to the roaring 70s on the weekend.
Johnson's Ashes rampage got the highest praise from Thomson who was reminded of the hurricane force that he and Dennis Lillee were in the 1974-75 series against England.
"It really was shades of 74," Thommo said on Sunday, "I was really pleased for him. He was superb. The Poms are used to playing on flat decks but they are not used to having to play backfoot cricket and he exposed that.
"He made the rest of the bowlers look like medium pacers. It's great to see a bit of feeling back in the game. It was old fashioned cricket.
"What I liked about him was that even though it was a flat deck he never dropped his pace back and went through the motions like some did."
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PERTH PERIL
ENGLAND probably don't want to hear any more bad news but here's some anyway.
In a recent Sheffield Shield match at the WACA one of Johnson's bouncers hit the sight screen on the second bounce.
If England's middle and lower order were trembling at the sight of Johnson in Adelaide things will only get worse in Perth.
England's batsmen are likely to be back on the step ladder as they were in bouncy Brisbane.
CRICKET'S BACK
A little bonus of Johnson's stunning first innings rampage was that it happened on a Saturday.
Tens and thousands of youngsters were home watching and hopefully in future years a future star will say the day he headed to the back yard to become a fast bowler was the day he saw Johnson in Adelaide.
Channel 9 were thrilled to have 2.5 million viewers tuned in when Cyclone Mitchell was blowing England away.
Mitchell Johnson verbals England's Ben Stokes on day four. AFP PHOTO / Saeed KHAN Source: AFP
BEST LAID PLANS ...
Sometimes a cricket team can have too many meetings for its own good.
The word around the Adelaide Oval on Sunday was the England batting coach Graham Gooch cancelled a personal engagement to host a special meeting of England's horrendously out of form top order.
One of the messages was to try and be positive but it didn't really hit the spot. Reckless early pull shots by Alastair Cook and Michael Carberry saw England's second innings wobble on the tarmac.
GIVE US A (LEG) BREAK
Steve Smith did some nice work for Australia on Sunday but the search for a frontline leg-spinner must continue.
The Australian team is heading in the right direction but it won't feel totally at peace with itself until it can find a decent Test match leggie.
We're not talking Shane Warne - just a serviceable wrist-spinner who can thrive on wearing wickets.
In a poignant reminder of how hard these fellows are to find, next man in line Fawad Ahmed was dropped to 12th man by Victoria on Sunday.
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SPIN OUT
IT's happening again. We huff and puff about Adelaide being a spin bowlers haven but where are the results?
Spin bowlers from both teams have collectively taken seven wickets while conceding more than 500 runs in the Adelaide Test.
It's difficult to compare this Test to previous ones here because this is the first dropped-in deck but it does continue the tradition of Adelaide being an over-rated slow's mans deck.
A quirk in Nathan Lyon's honorable Test record is that, surprisingly, his record in the fourth innings of Tests, where he averages around 36 per wicket, is worse than the other three innings.
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SPEED KILLS
No-one has to tell the England team their lack of collective pace is killing them.
The London Telegraph has revealed that a study by England team analysts claims that the potency of fast bowlers is by far at its greatest when the ball is delivered at above 135kph.
It's not too bad between 135-130kph but drops off substantially after that.
England's bowlers were anchored in the low to mid-130kph while Mitchell Johnson soared into the 150s and the first five balls he bowled in England's first innings were faster than anything England bowled in 150 overs in the Australia first innings.
STOKED UP
England face a major rebuild of their team over the year and hopefully allrounder Ben Stokes will be pencilled in as a player of the future.
The statistics returned in his debut Test may not be spectacular but he is swift enough with the ball and courageous enough with the bat to be a long term international player.
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