Mitchell Johnson is prepared to ditch one or both of the limited overs formats if it helps him repeat his menacing of England in next year's Ashes.
Johnson missed last month's failed World T20 campaign with an infected toe and suggested the shortest format was the one that might have to be sacrificed if he is to fulfil his ambition to spearhead Australia's 2015 defence of the urn in England.
The hero of the summer's triumphs over England and South Africa has plenty of motivation, for it was on the 2009 tour of England that his career veered off the rails. Johnson's physical strength has become one of his greatest attributes, but he is mindful of the need to pace himself through the next 12 months to give himself the best chance of replicating his recent achievements.
His brutal combination of speed and short-pitched bowling brought 37 wickets in the Ashes and earned this assessment from Wisden editor Lawrence Booth: "Johnson could now join an Ashes express-pace pantheon that included perhaps only Harold Larwood, Frank Tyson and Jeff Thomson. Whichever side you were cheering for, it was wonderful to watch.”
The 32-year-old is about to embark on an IPL stint with Kings XI Punjab, which paid $1.15 million for his services, but indicated he may opt out of Twenty20 internationals.
"I think I've got to be a lot smarter now. Twenty20 cricket you don't play a lot of anyway, it just happened at this time there was a World Cup straight after the South Africa series which I was looking forward to being involved in before I got injured," Johnson told the Cricket Australia website.
"Twenty20, I will quite happily say, is not my favourite format – I would rather play Test cricket. And maybe one-day (50-over international) cricket I have to look at as well."
However, next year's 50-over World Cup in Australia and New Zealand is an enticing prospect for Johnson, given he was a non-playing member of the squad that clinched the prestigious trophy in the Caribbean in 2007. Interestingly, Johnson's feats with the white ball propelled him back to Test contention last year, first on unresponsive pitches in last year's IPL and then by tormenting Jonathan Trott and his fellow England batsmen in the ODI series in England. It proved an omen for the Ashes summer.
"I'd like to win a World Cup - I've been involved in the West Indies in 2007 which was a well-paid holiday apparently," he said.
"And while it was tough work, the campaign we went through, it was a good place to be and a great experience.
"So I would love to be a part of Australia's 2015 World Cup and I certainly think we've got the team to win it. We've played some really good one-day cricket and given that it's being played at home, it would be a great opportunity.
"But my main goal now is to get to that 2015 Ashes series in England, so I'll be doing everything I can to reach that goal."
