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England’s bowling attack is by far the worst among the heavyweight ODI teams while Australia’s is clearly the best. That’s the tale of the statistics after I crunched the numbers on each attack in ODI cricket.
I took the six main bowlers from the strongest starting XI of each of the top five ranked ODI teams and calculated their combined bowler average.
Australia, with a combined average of 25.2, is ahead of South Africa (27.2), New Zealand (29.3) and India (31), while England (37.1) languishes in fifth.
This attack ranking order is almost identical to the current official ODI team rankings, in which the ICC has Australia in first, followed by South Africa, India, New Zealand and England.
It underlines that, while ballistic batting may grab the headlines, a good attack remains the core of the best ODI outfits.
Australia’s bowling stocks are so strong I could find no room in their starting line-up for quality players such as James Faulkner and John Hastings.
That pair misses out due to the variety offered by Adam Zampa (33 wickets at 26.9), and the match-changing dynamism of Pat Cummins, whose incredible strike rate of 27 is the seventh-best in the history of ODI cricket.
A natural strike bowler, Cummins (46 wickets at 24.5) will become the fourth-fastest Australian to reach 50 ODI wickets (after Dennis Lillee, Shane Warne and Len Pascoe) if he can take at least four wickets in his next two matches.
Together with superstar new ball pair Mitchell Starc (121 wickets at 19.8) and Josh Hazlewood (51 wickets at 23.9), Cummins gives Australia a fearsome pace attack.
South Africa’s pace unit is every bit as lethal, even with quality seamer Kyle Abbott having ended his international career to play English county cricket. Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel are three of the best 50-over bowlers in the world, complemented by arguably the format’s number one spinner, Imran Tahir.
New Zealand, meanwhile, has built a strong and versatile attack around their pace trump cards Trent Boult, Matt Henry and Tim Southee.
The Kiwis also get solid overs out of their all-rounders Corey Anderson, James Neesham and Mitchell Santner.
India, statistically, has the fourth-best attack among these top five teams but are improving thanks to their blossoming pace stocks. Mohammed Shami is injured at the moment, but when fit, he is among the best ODI quicks on the planet, as he showed with a brilliant display in Australia during the 2015 World Cup.
When he returns, Shami will have a fine new ball partner in emerging gun Jasprit Bumrah, who has had a stunning start to his international career in both ODIs and T20Is. Then there’s the clever, skilful and vastly experienced spin pair Ravi Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja.
If Shami can regain fitness, the Indian attack will have the pace and spin options to make them a force at the upcoming Champions Trophy.
England, meanwhile, will host that tournament and some bookies even have them as favourites.
While there is no doubting the quality of their destructive and deep batting line-up, England’s ODI bowling attack is woeful. There is not a single England bowler that would make it into the starting line-ups of Australia or South Africa.
England has to rely heavily on their powerful batting, which makes them an unbalanced ODI side in comparison to Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and India. This will be a major factor in the Champions Trophy.
Australia
Mitchell Starc – 121 wickets at 20
Josh Hazlewood – 51 wickets at 24
Pat Cummins – 46 wickets at 25
Adam Zampa – 33 wickets at 27
Travis Head – 10 wickets at 48
Mitch Marsh – 41 wickets at 36
TOTAL – 302 wickets at 25.2
South Africa
Kagiso Rabada – 43 wickets at 25
Morne Morkel – 181 wickets at 25
Dale Steyn – 180 wickets at 27
Imran Tahir – 111 wickets at 23
Chris Morris – 16 wickets at 39
JP Duminy – 61 wickets at 42
TOTAL – 592 wickets at 27.2
New Zealand
Trent Boult – 73 wickets at 25
Matt Henry – 58 wickets at 25
Tim Southee – 149 wickets at 32
Mitchell Santner – 25 wickets at 38
Jimmy Neesham – 30 wickets at 33
Corey Anderson – 55 wickets at 25
TOTAL – 390 wickets at 29.3
India
Mohammed Shami – 87 wickets at 25
Jasprit Bumrah – 22 wickets at 22
Ravi Ashwin – 145 wickets at 32
Ravi Jadeja – 151 wickets at 35
Hardik Pandya – 9 wickets at 33
Kedar Jadhav – 6 wickets at 23
TOTAL – 420 wickets at 31
England
David Willey – 32 wickets at 33
Chris Woakes – 78 wickets at 34
Liam Plunkett – 63 wickets at 36
Ben Stokes – 44 wickets at 38
Adil Rashid – 51 wickets at 36
Moeen Ali – 43 wickets at 47
TOTAL – 311 wickets at 37.1