It wasn’t so long ago that Jamie Siddons, Jamie Cox, Matthew Elliott, Brad Hodge, Michael Bevan and Darren Lehmann spent most or all of their careers sitting on the sidelines for the Australian Test team.
Not because they weren’t good enough – far from it – but because the incumbents proved impossible to dethrone as they piled on victories and records like few teams erstwhile or since.
McGrath, Gillespie and Warne, however, often had troubles finding a permanent third seamer up to the job with Brett Lee, Michael Kasprowicz, Andy Bichel and Colin Miller all emerging from the job with middling records.
Fast forward a decade-and-a-half and we have unrivalled depth in fast bowling and nothing in batting.
For three seamers spots in the starting eleven there are the presumptive incumbents Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc and James Pattinson.
Behind them are Ryan Harris, Jackson Bird, James Faulkner, Chadd Sayers, Luke Butterworth, Ben Hilfenhaus, Clint McKay and Mitchell Johnson.
The fact Johnson was our spearhead less than three years ago, and right now may as well put his baggy green on eBay, is testament to the fact that our depth in pace bowling is probably better than it ever has been before – even during the McGrath/Warne, Chappell and Invincibles eras.
It’s gotten to the point where quality quicks that would be fine backups to McGrath and Gillespie are lucky to even land a spot in the Australia A side.
I hasten to add that depth isn’t the same as ability – none of the bowlers have yet scaled the heights of Lillee, Lindwall or McGrath – but the fact that there are enough quality bowlers around that it’s relatively inconsequential should your best bowler happen to step on a cricket ball before an Ashes Test.
A bowler of comparable ability or record is ready to replace them without a massive compromise to the attack.
How did this happen? Obviously there’s been a trend towards seam-friendly wickets in Australian domestic cricket, in the same way that pitches fifteen years ago were a batsman’s delight. Guess what we had an oversupply of back then?
Far be it from this writer to equate correlation with causation, but it would be interesting to see if any batting superstars stepped out of the shadows with a little universal encouragement from Australian groundsmen.
Who knows, it might even make our current top six look good?
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