Mitchell Johnson feels primed to continue his intimidatory feats of the Ashes, and it’s not hard to understand why.

With memories of Graeme Smith’s broken bones and oodles of confidence after earning man-of-the-series honours in the 5-0 sweep of England, Johnson is back in a country where he has played some of his best cricket.

When Australia tackles South Africa on Wednesday week at Centurion, Johnson will be at the forefront of a pace subplot that’s fast garnering just as much interest as the three-Test series.

It’s the sort of pressure that sits just fine with the Australian spearhead, whose attack on English hearts, minds, helmets and stumps was the story of the Ashes.

“I’m happy to be the intimidator and to be talked of like that,” Johnson said on Monday in Potchefstroom.

“I’m coming over here after a great series being the intimidator against England.

“…I’ve played against Graeme Smith a few times now and I’ve hit him a couple of times.

“I’m hoping that’s still in the back of his mind. That hopefully gives you a bit of an advantage.

“But it is a new series and they are a tough opposition. They’re very strong mentally and they’re the No.1 Test side for a good reason.”

Johnson was crowned the ICC player of the year in 2009 on the back of some incredible all-round performances in South Africa, starring in the most recent Test series the Proteas have lost on home soil.

But it’s the ensuing injuries and loss of form that is keeping the 32-year-old firmly grounded amid the hype.

“I know I’ve been in this situation before. In ’09 everything was going really well (and then plummeted), but I’ve learned from that,” he said.

“I’m not going to underestimate anything.”

Australia were unable to train on Monday morning due to heavy rain.

Further showers are forecast this week and the visitors’ four-day tour game against a South African Invitational XI starting on Wednesday is likely to be impacted.

“We’d like to get that practice game in to get a bit more bowling under our belts in these conditions,” Johnson said of the side’s only tune-up for the opening Test.

“But if it doesn’t happen that way, a lot of us have played in these conditions and we can help each other out.”