At age 34, Mitchell Johnson is bowling as scarily fast as ever going into the first Test against New Zealand.
That is the opinion of Mitch Marsh, who is still marvelling at the paceman's thunderbolts last week in the Sheffield Shield.
Johnson missed most of the recent domestic one-day tournament while he worked on his strength and fitness.
He showed the benefits in Western Australia's Shield opener in Hobart, where he took five wickets, but it wasn't the scalps that stood out for Marsh.
"He bowled some of the quickest spells of bowling I've seen in real life," said allrounder Marsh on Tuesday, ahead of the Test series starting on Thursday at the Gabba.
"By far the quickest bowling I've seen on the field. I've played with Johnno over the last 18 months.
"I don't know if it was the pink ball, but he bowled a couple of overs that were rapid.
"Some of those spells down in Hobart, he was pushing 150km/h, for sure."
Johnson has admitted he had contemplated retirement after this year's Ashes series defeat in England before vowing to play on.
The express paceman failed to bowl in practice on Monday, however that was due to a big Shield workload against Tasmania.
There looked to be something amiss on Tuesday, when he started to bowl in the Gabba nets, and was clearly perturbed.
The source of consternation was a lack of space.
The left-armer hopped in a car with bowling coach Craig McDermott and visited Cricket Australia's facility at Allan Border Field, where he was able to come off his long run.
"He turned 34 yesterday - he's getting old and grumpy," Marsh joked.
Mitchell Starc admitted the issue was an annoying feature of the Gabba nets.
"The nets aren't long enough for a few of us," Starc said.
"That's why I came out to the middle, to bowl a few off my full run.
"There's a few places around the world that are a bit frustrating with their run-ups, but they're things we deal with and it will be fine come Thursday."
Johnson has 306 Test scalps, needing 50 more to lift him above mentor Dennis Lillee on Australia's list of all-time leading wicket-takers.
Australia lost not only the urn but an enormous amount of experience in England, where the Test careers of Michael Clarke, Chris Rogers, Brad Haddin, Shane Watson and Ryan Harris ended, leaving Johnson among the few senior figures remaining.
