England v Australia: Johnson reminds England batsmen of potential venom

After one washout in Leeds, this no-result and a defeat in Manchester, England will head next to Cardiff knowing that only victory there and in the last match in Southampton too will mean they add one-day international success over Australia to their Ashes victory this summer.

Eoin Morgan’s callow team will not head south either with any extra confidence after an eventful hour here.

Kevin Pietersen and Michael Carberry contrived a run-out which consigned the latter to his third low score in as many ODI attempts.

Then in a total of 59-3 under heavy cloud cover and floodlights, before more forecast rain arrived and terminated proceedings, Pietersen was undone by Johnson’s pace and bounce and Jonathan Trott was also significantly discomfited by the left-armer.

Johnson mixes the unplayable with the un-watchable, but is on song at the moment and also proved too much for Trott in Manchester.

Australia wicketkeeper Matthew Wade is uniquely placed to tell the world exactly how fast Johnson is bowling at present.

He said: “It’s quick – it’s one of the quickest I’ve probably kept to for a little while now.

“His rhythm is amazing, but more importantly his accuracy is second to none at the moment.

“He’s swinging the ball nicely, and hitting the stumps enough.

“He was probably unlucky not to get (Jonathan) Trott here.

“He bowled really nicely to him ... one of our big things is to take early wickets, and Mitch is getting that done for us at the moment.” Trott can expect more of the same not just in the two remaining matches of this series, but in the Ashes this winter if Johnson’s radar is still intact.

“The bowlers that are going around currently, Mitch is certainly hitting the gloves as hard as anyone of those,” said Wade, who was happy too to confirm Trott’s perceived vulnerability to the short ball is being targeted.

Trott survived, but only after two lbw scares, and a whack on the helmet from Johnson. “I definitely think it’s a plan,” added Wade.

“It’s something we’ll keep trying to do. Any batsman getting bouncers at the pace Mitch has been bowling at in the last couple of games is going to find it quite difficult. With Trott, it’s definitely a plan – not only the bouncer, we’re trying to mix his feet up and get lbws and caught-behinds. It’s definitely one of our main plans to him for sure. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to work that one out, I suppose.”