Johnson considered quitting cricket

Australia bowler Mitchell Johnson has admitted he considered giving up cricket as he battled a foot injury and erratic form in 2011.

The left-armer endured an uncertain Test future after the 2010-11 Ashes, during which he took 0-170 on his home Brisbane deck in the first Test.

Although he missed last year's series in England, an impressive showing in the following one-day international games resulted to a Test recall for the return Tests.

And the 32-year-old responded in superb fashion, taking 37 wickets across the five games as Australia demolished their opponents 5-0.

Johnson was awarded the Allan Border medal on Tuesday, Australian cricket's highest honour, for his efforts and hailed September's limited-overs chance as vital to his turnaround.

"I'm still in a little bit of shock that it's actually happened, it's been a crazy 18 months," Johnson said on Tuesday.

"It's been a big build up to this point in my career and it's really enjoyable at the moment.

"We're playing good cricket as a team and obviously when you receive a personal accolade like the AB Medal it's an amazing feeling.

"At one point there when I was injured I didn't think I wanted to play cricket again.

"Probably the first two months in my boot I was not interested in cricket, which was good just to get away from thinking about cricket 24-7.

"And then I basically built my way up, got myself fit, got myself strong and worked on the bowling things that I wanted to work on, which I knew that I needed to work on."

"It was the England one-day series (in September) when I felt there was something going on and it felt like something was coming together."