The Australian soap opera

Under fire on the pitch, Mitchell Johnson also finds his personal life splashed in the media.

Ekta Kapoor can legitimately feel triumphant. The fate of the Ashes apparently hangs on a feud between Mitchell Johnson’s mother and his fiancée. And the feud is playing out in all the pomp of Kapoor’s much-maligned soaps.

This Ashes series was to establish Johnson as a premier all-rounder in world cricket by building on his stellar show in the series win in South Africa. He was the heralded leader of the new-look Australian bowling attack, in the process of rebuilding after the retirement of some long-serving stalwarts. But two Tests later, with Australia down 0-1, there were murmurs that Johnson would be dropped.

These are the times when the whole world begins to look hostile and you need support from family and other loved ones. What followed was a three-way, not-so-kind conversation among the bowler, his mother Vikki Harber, and his fiancée Jessica Bratich — through the media.

It is Harber’s contention — one she felt compelled to discuss with the Herald Sun newspaper in Australia — that Bratich, a model and karate teacher, had snatched her 27-year-old son away from her. She said her once close relationship with her son had deteriorated since he started going out with Bratich — and subsequently told a TV show his fiancée was more interested in money than her son’s career. There were also hints that Bratich was using her status of a WAG — that’s what the wives and girl friends of the Australian and English cricketers are collectively called — for some old-fashioned self-promotion.

Harber chastised the Australian cricket administration for allowing WAGs on tour, but not players’ parents. If mums and dads were supporting the team, she said, there wouldn’t be as much bitchiness. “There isn’t a mother in Australia who ever stops worrying about her boy, no matter how old he gets.”

In response, Johnson did what a hot-blooded, pace bowling spearhead of the tough-as-nails Australian cricket team would do — he opened his heart to a women’s lifestyle magazine. He expressed disappointment with what was going on and the hope that things would be resolved.

Bratich, taking her turn on the media podium, said it was wrong of her mother-in-law-to-be to suggest she was only interested in fame and self-promotion. “Being called a WAG is such a stereotype, but I don’t think there is anything I can do to make some people think otherwise.” But perhaps the photo shoot she did with the lad mag Ralph — she appeared in a bikini and discussed sex before matches — would only reinforce the stereotype. All we needed was some reactions shots — Ekta style.