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When Australia select the two quicks to partner Mitchell Johnson in the first Test against India, their velocity appears certain to be a decisive factor.
Coach and selector Darren Lehmann has repeatedly emphasised the need for Australia’s Test pacemen to be able to rattle opponents with their speed.
With the first Test to be played on a flint-hard Brisbane surface against the notoriously pace-shy Indians, bowlers like prolific South Australian swing bowler Chadd Sayers are unlikely to get a look in.
Operating in the 125-to-135kmh range, Sayers does not fit the Lehmann mould. The Australian mentor made it clear late last year that bowlers in this bracket would probably be overlooked for Test selection.
“That’s a really big area for us in our bowling attack – you need to have speed against players these days,” Lehmann said.
“Gone are the days when you can bowl 125kmh. You need to be 140 if you possibly can. Speed’s a really big issue… we’re looking for blokes who bowl with some pace.”
Since the start of the 2012-13 summer, Sayers has taken more Sheffield Shield wickets than any other bowler, with 93 at an average of 21. He has achieved this sensational record despite playing roughly half his games on the flattest deck in the country at Adelaide Oval.
The 27-year-old earned robust praise from his coach Darren Berry and Queensland skipper James Hopes after making a spectacular start to the Shield season at Adelaide Oval.
Sayers grabbed a hat trick in the first dig and then destroyed the Bulls with 6-34 in the second innings. Berry suggested Sayers had “kicked the door down” of the Test selectors.
Hopes and Redbacks skipper Johan Botha both lauded Sayers for his ability to trouble batsmen even on lifeless decks.
It was this ability which persuaded some Australian cricket followers, including myself, to suggest he would have been a smart pick for the two-Test tour against Pakistan in the UAE.
But Lehmann’s pace-first mantra could well make all this achievement and praise null and void. It is hard to see a short, medium-pace swing bowler in Sayers being favoured ahead of the far more rapid and intimidating offerings of tall quicks like WA’s Nathan Coulter-Nile or NSW youngster Josh Hazlewood.
Last time India toured Australia in the summer of 2011-12, they were routed 4-0 in the Test by Australia. Their batsmen folded like tissue paper against an Australian attack boasting extreme pace.
Tearaway James Pattinson reached 153kmh in that series, while Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus and Mitchell Starc all nudged 150kmh repeatedly. Together, that quartet took 65 wickets at 19 for the series.
Fast forward just over two years and Siddle was dumped from the Test team in South Africa early this year because of his lack of pace. After bulking up during the past Australian winter and apparently rediscovering his lost velocity, Siddle earned back his place for the Tests in the UAE.
However, after regularly bowling in the low 140s in the first innings of that series, his pace flagged to the point he averaged just 131kmh across the second Test at Abu Dhabi.
Combined with his horrible series figures of 2-217, he is all but certain to be dropped for the first Test in Brisbane in four weeks.
Starc’s return of 2-142 from his sole Test in that series was scarcely better but he was far more threatening than Siddle, with either the new or old ball, not to mention 10kmh quicker.
He deserves another chance, particularly on a lively Gabba pitch, which should be perfectly suited for the 197cm left armer.
Veteran spearhead Ryan Harris is set to return to Shield cricket and is keen to play in the series against India. But given his shocking injury record, will Australia want to rush him back for the first Test?
If he does play, the third seamer spot looks set to be a shoot out between the tall and rapid trio of Starc, Coulter-Nile and Hazlewood. Poor old Sayers may be left watching the action on TV.