William Arras Johnston was an Australian cricketer who played in forty Test matches from 1947 to 1955. A left arm pace bowler, as well as a left arm orthodox spinner, Johnston was best known as a spearhead of Don Bradman's undefeated 1948 touring team, well known as "The Invincibles". Johnston headed the wicket-taking lists in both Test and first-class matches on the tour, and was the last Australian to take over 100 wickets on a tour of England. Regarded by Bradman as Australia's greatest-ever left-arm bowler, Johnston was noted for his endurance in bowling pace with the new ball and spin when the ball had worn.

Billy Johnston took up cricket from an early age, playing with his elder brother Allan throughout the year on a backyard pitch on the family's dairy farm, owned by his father. Beeac's local team, which competed in the Colac District Association, occasionally had difficulty in assembling a full side. As a result, Johnston made his debut aged only twelve alongside his brother after an invitation from his schoolteacher. On debut, when a draw became a foregone conclusion, Johnston was allowed to bowl the final over, taking a wicket maiden. The following season, the brothers led Beeac's attack, continuing to do so after moving to Colac High School, where Bill became captain of the cricket and football teams. Johnston left school at sixteen, working in Colac, before following Allan to Melbourne in 1939. He joined Richmond Cricket Club in the Third XI and took 6/16. After five games he was promoted to the Second XI, and made his first grade debut in the last game of the 1939/40 season.

Prior to World War II, Johnston was a slow-medium and left-arm orthodox spin bowler, but during a practice session, he bowled a quicker ball to Jack Ryder a former Australian captain and Test batsman, who was now a Victorian and national selector. This prompted Ryder to wage a personal campaign to induce Johnston to become a pace bowler. At the same time, Richmond captain Jack Ledward wanted him to bowl spin. Upon the resumption of first-class cricket in 1945/46, Johnston made his first-class debut against Queensland and was entrusted with the responsibility of opening the attack. His maiden wicket was that of leading Test batsman Bill Brown.

He felt that the fast bowling was only for short periods with the new ball, and that he would be allowed to revert to spin bowling as the ball became older. He played a total of seven matches for the season with his best performance being 4/43 against arch-rivals New South Wales. As a result, he missed the national selection for the tour to New Zealand. It took further encouragement from Australian captain Don Bradman after he played against Bradman's South Australians to keep him in the game. Bradman told Johnston that the selectors thought highly of his potential as a medium-fast bowler to reinforce the short bursts of pace spearheads Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller and that pace bowlers were in short supply.

Johnston practised his pace bowling with new vigour, and at the start of the 1947/48 season, the fruits of his labour provided immediate dividends. In the opening match of the season, he delivered an opening burst of 3/0 for Victoria against the touring Indian team, removing Vinoo Mankad, Khandu Rangnekar and leading batsman Vijay Hazare, all for ducks. He took three more wickets in the second innings, to end with a match total of 6/96, including Hazare for the second time. Johnston was then called into an Australian XI that played the Indians before the Tests, in what was effectively a dress rehearsal. Although the hosts lost, Johnston took 6/141, all of his victims being frontline batsmen.

In the last outing before the Tests, Johnston took 3/40 and 5/37 to set up a nine-wicket win over New South Wales, including the wickets of Test openers Sid Barnes and Arthur Morris with the new ball at the start of the match. was rewarded with selection for four of the five Tests against India, making his debut on a sticky wicket in the First Test in Brisbane. taking 2/17 as India fell for 58 in the first innings and 1/11 in the second as India fell for 98 following on, resulting in an innings defeat. Johnston's first Test wicket was Hemu Adhikari and he was not required to bat.

He took match figures of 5/48 in the Second Test in a drawn match. The Third Test was Johnston's first Test in front of his home crowd of the Melbourne Cricket Ground. In the first innings, he scored his first runs at Test level, adding five before being run out. He removed both of India's openers, Chandu Sarwate and Mankad, and ended with 2/33 as Australia took a 103-run first innings lead. In the second innings, he did the same, bowling both players, and ended with 4/44 as Australia won by 233 runs. Johnston missed the Fourth Test in Adelaide due to injury but returned for the Fifth Test in Melbourne where he scored 23 not out and took match figures of 2/29 in another innings victory and Australia ended the summer with a 4–0 win.

During the Ashes tour, Johnston roomed with Doug Ring who was a teammate in the Richmond and Victorian cricket teams. As Ring was a leg-spin bowler, he and Johnston were in direct competition for a place in the eleven. When Johnston was omitted in favour of Ring, it appeared he would not be in Bradman's Test plans. Bradman changed his mind on the morning of the First Test in Trent Bridge when rain was forecast. Johnston was played in the hope of exploiting a wet wicket. Johnston removed Bill Edrich and Joe Hardstaff junior in one over to leave England at 4/46. He returned later in the innings to take 5/36 from 25 overs as England were bowled out for 165. After scoring an unbeaten 17 in a last-wicket partnership of 33, Johnston bowled 59 overs in the second innings to take 4/147 in Lindwall's absence. Johnston bowled the most overs of any player and was the leading wicket-taker for the match.

He scored his career Test best of 29 in another tail-wagging performance before taking match figures of 4/105 as Australia took a 2–0 lead in the Second Test at Lord's. Johnston removed Denis Compton, England's leading run-scorer for the series, in both innings. In an effective containing performance, Johnston took 3/67 in the first innings of the Third Test at Old Trafford in 45.5 overs, before the match ended in a rain-affected draw. After supporting Lindwall in a 48-run partnership in the first innings of the Fourth Test, Johnston took 4/95 in the second innings, including three in the space of 16 runs. Australia went on to break the world record Test run-chases record to take a 3–0 lead. Johnston rounded off the series with match figures of 6/60 in the Fifth Test at The Oval from 43.3 overs. Johnston took the last three wickets in the match as Australia completed a 4–0 series result with an innings victory. In all, Johnston finished with 27 Test wickets at an average of 23.33, equal to Lindwall.

In both the Test and county matches during the 1948 tour, Johnston carried the heaviest workload, bowling nearly 200 overs more than any other member of the squad. He was the leading wicket-taker with 102 wickets at 16.42, and the last Australian to take a century of wickets on an Ashes tour. His best performances in the tour games included a match haul of 10/40 against Yorkshire at Bradford, bowling finger spin on a wet pitch, 8/68 against Somerset and 11/117 against Hampshire.

Johnston's next international assignment was the 1949/50 tour to South Africa. The tour started badly; after taking a total of 5/28 in an innings win over Zululand in a non-first-class match, he fell asleep at the wheel outside Durban following a team function. He missed a turn, skidded across gravel and flipped and crashed his car. After a few hours, medical help arrived and Johnston was hospitalised. The team manager Chappie Dwyer was mistakenly informed that Johnston had died, and the bowler later described his injury as a "nine-iron divot in the top of my skull". Johnston started coughing up blood, and he and Dwyer sought to have the accident kept private. However, news was leaked back to Australia that Johnston had two broken ribs and he had to rest further.

Johnston recovered in time for the final tour match before the Tests, a match against a South African XI, effectively a full-strength Test team. Johnston took 2/81 in his only innings but it was enough for captain Lindsay Hassett to put him in the Test team. Johnston took 2/21 in the first innings of the First Test against South Africa at Johannesburg and the hosts were forced to follow on. He took 6/44 including the last three wickets in the second innings, his career best innings figures in Test cricket, helping Australia take an innings victory and a 1–0 series lead.

After going wicketless in the first innings, he took three wickets in the Second Test victory at Cape Town. He then took 11 wickets in the next two tour games, including 6/20 against Border. Johnston was more prominent in the Third Test at Durban with match figures of 8/114 as Australia took the series 3–0. South Africa had reached 2/242 in their first innings when Johnston removed their captain Dudley Nourse, precipitating a loss of 8/69 on a sticky wicket. Johnston ended with 4/39 in the second innings and Australia went on to reach the victory target. On an erratic surface, six of his victims were bowled or lbw.

The 1950/51 Ashes series was Australia's first home series in three years. In the opening match of the season for Victoria against the touring Englishmen, Johnston warmed up by scoring 30 and taking a total of 3/89, including the wickets of leading batsmen Compton and Hutton. In the First Test at Brisbane, England were caught on a sticky wicket and Bill Johnston took 5/35. He then took 2/30 in the second innings, removing Evans and Compton for a second time as Australia won the match to take a 1–0 lead. In the Second Test at the MCG, Johnston took 2/28 and 4/26 as Australia scraped home by 28 runs, defending a target of only 179 on a cracked pitch.

Johnston had quiet Third Test with only a total of 1/82 in an innings victory, but he returned to form in the Fourth Test in Adelaide with 3/58 and 4/73 in a 274-run win. He did much of the heavy lifting in the second innings, removing the top four English batsmen, Hutton, Simpson, Washbrook and Compton. Johnston struggled in the final Test with match figures of 1/91 as England won their only Test of the series. Johnston led the wicket takers list, with 22 at 19.18.

The 1951/52 home series was the first tour by the West Indies for two decades, and Johnston again led the wicket takers with 23 at 22.08, as Australia won the series 4–1. Johnston started the series steadily with match figures of 3/90 in the First Test. He then took 3/80 and 2/61 and scored 28 in the Second Test, which Australia won by seven wickets. The Tests were interrupted by two consecutive matches between Victoria and New South Wales. In the first match, Johnston took 6/159 in the only innings of a high-scoring draw, including four Test batsmen. In the following match, he scored 32 before taking career best innings figures of 7/114.

Johnston's best match performance came in the only loss in the Third Test at Adelaide. It was in this match that Johnston passed 100 Test wickets, the fastest player to do so. Exploiting a wet patch at the striker's end, Johnston took 6/62 in the first innings as 22 wickets fell on the first day in treacherous batting conditions; however he was unable to stop an Australian defeat, taking only 1/50 in the second innings. At this stage Johnston was at the peak of his career in terms of bowling average and wickets taken per match. In his 24 Tests to the end of the series, he had taken 111 wickets at 19.22, with Australia winning 19 and losing two.

Johnston could not maintain his form in the 1952/53 home series against South Africa. Johnston took match figures of 3/83, 2/114 and 2/97 as the first three Tests were won, lost and won, respectively. In the meantime, he took his career-best performance at first-class level, taking 8/52 in the first innings of a match against Queensland, which remained his best first-class innings analysis. In the Fourth Test at Adelaide, both Lindwall and Miller broke down in the middle of match, leaving Australia two bowlers short. In their absence, Johnston took 5/110 and 2/67 but Australia were unable to force a win. He sent down 587 balls for the entire match.

After injuring his knee in a festival match at the beginning of the 1953 Ashes tour at East Molesey, Johnston attributed the injury to a lack of attention to detail. His new boots had spikes that were longer than usual, and the physiotherapist had failed to strap his ankle before the match. His knee soon failed. Johnston missed a month of cricket. He was economical but unpenetrative if the First Test, conceding 36 runs in 36 overs without taking a wicket in a rain-affected draw. He took match figures of 4/161 in the Second Test but England held on for a draw with three wickets in hand. Johnston return for the Fifth Test at The Oval. Although the pitch was helpful for spin, a total of 74 overs in the match yielded 3/146, as Johnston was unable rekindle the form of 1948 following his knee injury.

Johnston returned to Australia and participated in the 1953/54 season, which was purely domestic. He continued his recent strong form against Queensland in the first match, taking 4/56 and 5/61 to set up a 254-run win. However, the rest of the season was not so productive; Johnston managed only 20 more wickets in the remaining seven matches at an average of almost 50. He ended the season with 29 wickets at 38.24. The 1954/55 series against England was to be Johnston's last Test success. He took 19 wickets at 22.26 in the first four Tests before missing the last as England took the low-scoring series 3–1. His career ended unhappily on Australia's first ever tour to the West Indies. He took match figures of 2/126 in the First Test in Kingston, Jamaica in a high-scoring win. These were to be his last Test wickets.

Johnston had a varied career after cricket, holding a variety of jobs. These included acting as a sales representative for Dunlop sports goods and shoes, a publican and an apartment building manager. In his later working career, he ran a post office on the Gold Coast of Queensland after he and his wife moved there. His son David played 10 matches for South Australia at first-class level; He later became an administrator and was the Chief Executive of the Tasmanian Cricket Association at the time of his father's death at the age of 85.