Analysis of Australia’s fast bowling strength - Opinion – Part Two
Continued from the previous part...
In the 12-man squad announced for the first Test at Brisbane, which starts this Friday, there are four fast bowlers and a spinner in shape of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Nathan-Michael-Lyon-c78822. It remains to be seen whether the home team goes in with an all-pace attack or they play three speedsters
with Lyon.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MJ-Clarke-c1978.
Over the last 12 months, the Australian selectors have done a commendable job in nursing the new fast bowlers and developing a big pool of pacers, who can all make important contributions whenever required.
In order to prolong their fast bowlers’ careers, the selectors, headed by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/James-Pattinson-c1653 have not been played in limited-over cricket consistently.
Pattinson, the 22-year-old Victorian, despite all the hype attached with the shorter formats of the game, is happy to be given a chance to concentrate on Test cricket and completely understands the reasons behind the rotation policy.
“I can definitely see where they're coming from. As a fast bowler you don't want to miss games but there's so much cricket all over the world now, Twenty20 and Test cricket is getting more and more. We are a pretty young bowling side and we don't want to
get burnt out too early,” Pattinson expressed earlier this year.
In the five matches the young pacer has so far played, he has picked up 26 wickets at an impressive average of 18.96 runs per victim, which is brilliant for a rookie.
Same has been the case with Siddle, who has not played any limited-over cricket since 2010 and has been restricted to the 5-day version. The right-arm seamer has already grabbed 117 scalps in 32 Tests and is looking for many more in the coming years.
“You'd like to play all forms, but the amount of cricket that gets played now it is hard to fit all that in as one player,” Siddle mentioned.
The only left-arm fast bowler in the squad, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/United-Arab-Emirates-c3033
(UAE), the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757.
The lanky speedster is currently at the top of his game, having the ability to move the ball both ways and extract maximum bounce from a pitch. Starc is yet to make a huge impression in Test cricket but many former cricketers believe that the left-armer
will be very handy in the series against the Proteas because of the different angle he is going to create.
The visitors definitely have more experience in the fast bowling department in the presence of Steyn, Morkel and Philander but http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 are not far behind in this facet of the game. On their day, Pattinson, Starc, Hilfenhaus and Siddle can turn the game
on its head; however, in order to be categorised among the world’s top fast bowlers, they need to do well against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/GC-Smith-c1473 and company.
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