Mostly in cricket, people judge a team by the reputations of its players. But sometimes, lesser known names are equally dangerous. The new Aussie pace battery might be a less formidable attack than the McGrath-Gillespie-Lee attack, but it has no less acuity. In modern context, this new attack can be considered as second-best after the South African deadly troika of Steyn, Morkel and Philander. But when it comes to variety, South Africans fall short of bench strength. This is where the strength of this Australian pace bowling lies: ‘variety’ and strong bench strength. In this article, I analyze some of the names that compose this dangerous Australian attack!
Mitchell Johnson
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Tests: 205 wickets at an average of 30
ODIs: 188 wickets at an average of 25
Mitchell Johnson is a dangerous left-arm fast bowler, when in form. His USP is the deadly late in-swing that comes snaking into the right hander. When he is in full flow, it is a great sight to watch the batsman perplexed against the background of shattered stumps. Besides those swinging beauties, he can bowl some real good Yorkers and bouncers to stun any settled batsman. That makes him a dangerous shorter-version bowler. His mediocre test average shows the fact that consistency has been a distant cousin for Johnson. On bad days, like some swing bowlers, he sprays one too many balls around.
Peter Siddle
Tests: 141 wickets at an average of 28
ODIs: 188 wickets at an average of 38
‘Bowl in the right spot, draw batsman to a spot where he reaches for
it and nicks it to the slips cordon.’ That’s Peter Siddle for you. He can bowl immaculate
lines on flat tracks and can swing the cherry a lot where the conditions
favour. He’s surely a viewer’s delight with his charged run-up and energetic
appeals. His ODI career isn’t much to boast of, with a fat average of 38.
Injuries have affected Siddle’s roller-coaster career, but Siddle supporters
would like to believe that his best is yet to come.
For me, he ranks no.2 in this Aussie pace line-up.
Pat Cummins
Tests: 7 wickets at 16.7 average
ODIs: 7 wickets at 30.5 average
One sensational debut match and the name hogged limelight. Pat
Cummins, is a tall promising bowler in the mould of Morne Morkel, with a good
high-arm action, who made the ball talk against the mighty South Africans.
Injury has put him out of action since then and the world awaits to see the
tall fast man to demolish batting line-ups around the world.
Ben Hilfenhaus
Tests: 99 wickets at 28 average
ODIs: 29 wickets at 37 average
(To be updated)
Ben HilfenhausJames Pattinson
Clint Mckay
Ryan Harris
Jackson Bird
Doug Bollinger
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