Mitchell Johnson
Country: Australia
Age: 33
Mitchell Johnson is not the type to worry about exactly when he enters the attack. Be it with the new ball or first change, the left-arm paceman can change the complexion of a game rapidly with his menacing blend of express pace and aggression.
Johnson can not only swing the ball late but also extract sharp bounce to unsettle the best of batsmen. He has proved himself in crunch situations with both bat and ball in tests and ODIs.
He was recently out of action for a month due to a hamstring injury but returned in style for a tri-series final against England, when his three-wicket burst put Australia on track for an easy win.
That spell came after left-armer Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood were used to open the bowling.
Home conditions and the aim of regaining the Cup should be incentive enough for Johnson to be at his best.
Johnson, who has 224 wickets and 920 runs with a highest score of 73 not out from 145 ODIs, will be part of the World Cup for the third time — though he did not get to play a game in 2007 when Australia won in the West Indies.
In 2011, he took 10 wickets from seven matches, including four-wicket hauls against Zimbabwe and New Zealand.
