Whatever Johnson had for lunch on the third day of the second Commonwealth Bank Ashes Test at the Adelaide Oval stoked a fire in his belly and inflicted serious heartburn for England.

QUICK SINGLE: Johnson reveals emotional toll

On a pitch that was supposed to favour batsmen and offer nothing but toil and frustration for fast bowlers, Johnson tore into England’s batting to deepen the already wide mental and technical scars he had inflicted during the series opener in Brisbane.

In doing so, he finished with innings figures of 7-40 and demolished England for 172 – a deficit of 398 runs that has left the tourists so demonstrably shell-shocked it's difficult to imagine how they might find a way back into the five-Test series in which they are staring at a two-nil deficit.

Twice he found himself on a hat-trick only to be denied by false shots that fell out of reach of fielders, as the sell-out Adelaide crowd abandoned their regular Saturday afternoon socialising in the food and drink tents to pack the stands and terraces.

Despite Australia’s dominance in the morning session when they captured three key English wickets , nobody was quite prepared for what was about to follow after Johnson sent down a tidy maiden to Ian Bell immediately after the break.

From there, all hell broke loose when the moustachioed left-armer began his 14th over and the 51st of the England innings.

This is how it unfolded:

Over 50.1: Test debutant Ben Stokes was caught on the crease by a fast delivery that tailed late into the left-hander, struck him on the front pad. The Australians’ appeal was denied amid suggestions Stokes had edged it onto his pad, but Michael Clarke called for a review which showed the ball would have cleanly taken the top of leg stump.

50.2: Horribly out-of-form England vice-captain Matt Prior, who managed a solitary scoring shot in two innings in Brisbane, arrived and was immediately met with a full delivery on leg stump – a weakness the Australians exploited in the first Test – that he tucked to square leg. No run.

50.3: Johnson fired a short ball into Prior’s ribs and the England wicketkeeper had no clue as the ball thundered into his chest and the crowd roared its approval.

50.4: An even faster bouncer followed, aimed directly at Prior’s head and he just managed to jag his head inside the line of the ball as it whistled past his protective helmet.

50.5: Having successfully softened up his prey, Johnson landed his sucker punch with a full, fast delivery angled across the right-hander that Prior felt compelled to flash at and the resultant edge was taken low to the ground by Brad Haddin.

50.6: Perennial villain Stuart Broad arrived at the crease to jeers and further alienated himself from the expectant throng by complaining about a small light that was glowing on the perimeter of the sightscreen behind Johnson’s arm. A five-minute delay ensued while a ladder was fetched and tape applied to the offending glow, during which time the mood of expectation and hostility grew. The crowd then exploded when Johnson fired a full, swinging delivery at Broad who walked too far across his stumps and looked around in horror as his leg stump was tilted back.

52.1: Johnson’s hat-trick ball was the worst he bowled in his spell, but even that was lifted in the air by Graeme Swann who was clearly unnerved by the pace and collected three runs as well as the sanctuary of the non-striker’s end.

54.1: Short ball to Swan who was forced to fend it away from in front of his face, and the ball somehow landed safely away from the cordon of fielders clustered on the off-side.

54.2: Swann aimed a wild swing at a full ball and missed, but signalled his intention he wasn’t prepared to hang around in such a perilous situation.

54.5: Short and very wide, could have been harmlessly left to pass by but such was Swann’s desire to make a couple of runs before the end inevitably came he again swung hard and ambitiously and Clarke intercepted the resultant edge high to his right at second slip.

54.6: Another Brisbane villain James Anderson arrived to a huge chorus of jeers, and tried to look confident and defiant as Johnson steamed in. That façade was exposed when a laser-like fast, full delivery swung into the tailender, between his angled bat and front pad and into the top of middle stump.

At that point, Johnson had captured 5-12 in 24 electrifying balls since lunch, England were on the brink of humiliation at 9-135 – still 435 runs in arrears on the first innings – and the Adelaide Oval crowd was in delirium.

His second hat-trick ball almost delivered him the rare Test milestone, but Bell’s forward prod fell agonisingly short at Chris Rogers at cover.

It was a rare reprieve for an England team that appears down for the count after Johnson returned to end a stubborn 10th-wicket stand between Bell and Monty Panesar when he rattled Panesar’s stumps to claim his seventh wicket and send the dispirited tourists back into the field.

Mitchell Johnson wants to raise $50,000 for the Movember campaign by the end of the Commonwealth Bank Ashes Series. Make your donation here: http://cricketa.us/1aHL8s3

How Twitter reacted to Johnson's spell

Brilliant Mitch