Thommo tells Johnson to let rip

Australia's fastest ever bowler Jeff Thomson has told Mitchell Johnson to leave his manners in the change rooms when he makes his return to Ashes cricket this summer.

National selectors confirmed on Tuesday that Johnson will return to Australia's Test side for the first Test against England in Brisbane next Thursday.

Johnson was back to his fearsome best on the recent one-day tour of India, terrorising the likes of Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina on benign pitches.

With some England batsmen – notably Jonathan Trott – showing a weakness to the short ball during the Ashes this year, Thomson has called on Johnson to use his pace and bounce to unsettle the tourists.

"(England's) comfort zone is medium-pace bowlers, because there's not many really quick bowlers around at the moment," Thomson said in an exclusive interview with Yahoo7 Sport.

"Johnson's got a bit more pace than the others so he's got to use it. That's the way he's got to play; he's got to bowl quick. Otherwise they may as well play somebody else."

Johnson's Test career was at a crossroads earlier this year when five quicks were picked ahead of him for the away Ashes series in England.

Since then, the left-armer has been working closely with Thomson's old partner-in-crime Dennis Lillee and says he was surprised by how fast he bowled on the tour of India.

Thomson dismissed talk of a career revival, saying a simple and obvious change to Johnson's action was all that was needed to turn his fortunes around.

"He's fixed up his arm and has his arm higher," Thomson said.

"His wrist still isn't that great if you ask me, but you didn't need to be a rocket scientist to work out what he was doing wrong in the past few years. He had to get his arm higher.

"All of a sudden he's done that and everyone says 'he's a new bowler'. It wasn't that hard to work out what he was doing wrong.

"But this summer he needs to bowl quick to give us a chance. He can worry a couple of their key players provided he bowls quick and puts in."

Trott fell twice to the short ball during the home Ashes series, while he was also susceptible to the ball swinging in to his pads.

Johnson has promised to target the South African-born batsman again after he struck him on the head with a vicious bouncer during the one-day series in September.

"I think he's come out and said he's not worried about the short ball," Johnson said of Trott.

"But we saw what he was like in the one-day series, he definitely didn't like it.

"There's guys in their team who we'll definitely go after."

England captain Alastair Cook, who scored 766 runs on his last tour of Australia, can also expect plenty of short balls.

Johnson has often left a path of destruction during his career, twice breaking the hand of South Africa captain Graeme Smith and also breaking the finger of Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara last summer.

However he has often failed to replicate his best form against England, and he was the subject of taunts from the Barmy Army during the Ashes series of 2009 and 2010-2011.

But with his confidence high again, Johnson is talking tough ahead of another meeting with the old enemy.

"If I can get a few of those rearing balls towards the ribs or those throat balls, and if he gets in the way of it, that's his own fault," Johnson said.

"You'd rather get the wicket more than anything; you get a lot of joy out of that when you get a player like that out.

"I have a look at last summer and Sangakkara was an example. I've busted his finger and he's one of their best players, so they were one short and I got a couple of those in the middle order. If you can't get them out, that's the second option."

Jeff Thomson spoke to Yahoo7 Sport ahead of the XXXX GOLD Beach Cricket Trophy match on XXXX Island