Perth, Dec. 12 : Former Australian pace great Dennis Lillee once described a teenage Mitchell Johnson as a "once in a generation" bowler, and now seems intent that his young protégé fulfills his ultimate prophecy.

Lillee met Johnson yesterday to discuss tactics for bowling at the WACA Ground, passing on advice and experience from 15 years of bowling on the pace-friendly surface.

"It''s good to have his advice. We just spoke about how things have been going for me at the moment and also just bowling at the WACA,"The Age quoted Johnson, as saying.

Perth, Dec. 12 : Australian quick Mitchell Johnson says that he is taking inspiration from his mentor Dennis Lillee to counter the visiting South African team both verbally and on the field.

Johnson, the fourth-leading Test wicket-taker in 2008 with 50 scalps, said Lillee has passed on advice for putting the heat on the South African batsmen in the first Test at the WACA next week.

Johnson has played only one Test at the WACA and is yet to make his first-class debut for WA after crossing over from Queensland.

Perth, Dec. 11 : Australian left-armer Mitchell Johnson has warned South Africa that the home side's pace attack will also be fast and dangerous on the bouncy WACA wicket in next week's first Test.

Johnson, who has been in brilliant form with 50 wickets in 2008 including 14 at 11 in the recent 2-0 whitewash of New Zealand, says the tourists shouldn't get too carried away with their own pace attack of Dale Steyn (60 wickets this year), Morne Morkel (37) and Makhaya Ntini (46).

"There has always been talk about the WACA wicket being back to its old self," The Age quoted Johnson, as saying.

Dubai, Dec. 2 : Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson has broken into the top 10 of the Reliance Mobile ICC Test bowlers for the first time in his career following another good performance against New Zealand at Adelaide.

The 27-year-old left-armer took match figures of 5-85 as Australia registered a comfortable victory over the Black Caps and as a result he has gained another four places in the rankings. He now sits in eighth place, level with Shoaib Akhtar of Pakistan and Sri Lanka’s Chaminda Vaas.

It is a remarkable turn around for the Queenslander considering he was outside the top 30 as recently as last month.

Dubai, Nov. 24 : Australia fast bowler Mitchell Johnson has moved up 18 places in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers after a man-of-the-match performance in the first Test against New Zealand in Brisbane.

The 27-year-old left-armer registered match figures of 9-69 in 25.3 overs – the best figures of his career to date – as Australia beat its trans-Tasman rival by 149 runs at the ’Gabba.

That effort means Johnson moves up to 12th position as he enjoys his highest rating yet, level with New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori.