Melbourne, Dec 1 (IANS) Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson underwent surgery on his left toe here Thursday and will need five to six months to recover thus ruling him out of the cricket Test series against New Zealand and India.
Cricket Australia (CA) doctor Trefor James said Johnson sustained a severe injury to ligaments, commonly referred to as ‘Turf Toe’, while batting in the second Test in South Africa.
‘Although lesser degrees of this injury can be managed without surgery, Mitchell’s injury was a severe form and surgery was clearly the best option. I would expect Mitchell to be able to return to cricket in five to six months,’ said James after the surgery.
Johnson rubbished talks of his career being over and spoke positively of his return. The left-arm pacer who was the ICC player of Year in 2009 has endured a torrid time of late with the ball managing to pick just three wickets in the two-Test series against the Proteas. But he starred with the bat in the second Test in Johannesburg to give Australia a dramatic series levelling win.
‘I’m definitely going to be back, I’ve heard a few reports that my career’s over due to form – not because of this injury … I just laugh at it. I’m only 30 years old and I’ve got plenty of cricket left in me. I’m going to take a lot of positives out of this (injury) layoff,’ he said.
