He ruptured a tendon in the middle toe of his right foot during South Australia’s Sheffield Shield match against Western Australia last month. Johnson, 29, bowled 45 overs in the match, just the sixth first-class appearance of his career, after playing four white-ball games against Pakistan in the space of eight days.
“To be honest, we still don’t really know how it happened or why it happened,” Johnson told reporters after the game. “I think four surgeons, four sports doctors have examined him and they are all amazed.
“I think we just manage it and take care of it and hopefully everything turns out well.”
“It is such a strange injury that tomorrow I could wake up and everything would be fine. We are taking care of it, we will manage it”
Spencer Johnson
The pain is not constant, but strapping is necessary, which is unusual for a toe and involves a fairly complicated process. “It’s pretty hectic,” Johnson said of the adjustment. “It only really hurts when I curl up or hold on. In a way, we’ve prevented it from bending [with the strapping] and that seems to work.
“We’ve come up with a decent method of tying it up and hopefully everything will be fine for the rest of the season. It’s such a strange injury that I could wake up tomorrow and everything would be fine. We’re taking care of it, we’ll manage it.”
Given the situation, Johnson’s comeback against Scorchers became even more impressive. He enjoyed bowling on the hard, fast surface at Optus Stadium, unleashing a hostile spell with the new ball where he dismissed opener Finn Allen for a duck.
In what has become a trademark, Johnson consistently rushed batters with considerable length. He claimed the wickets of Cooper Connolly, Ashton Turner and Ashton Agar with short deliveries at the end of Scorchers’ innings. An important player in white-ball cricket, Johnson is also adept at being a defensive bowler with his accurate and hard-to-score full deliveries.
“It was nice to wear the Brisbane Heat jersey again,” Johnson said. “He [toe] “I felt good out there.”
“Five wickets for Australia… sounds a bit strange,” Johnson smiled. “Doing it at the top level helps [build confidence]”.
After a disappointing T20 World Cup campaign this year, an aging Australia could undergo a transition ahead of the format’s next marquee event in early 2026 in India and Sri Lanka. If his troublesome toe doesn’t swell and he can stay in shape, Johnson should be an attractive option.
“I think the main thing for me is just staying in the park and keeping my body healthy,” he said. “Hopefully the performances keep coming.”
Tristan Lavalette is a journalist based in Perth.
