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Sayers still long odds for Ashes debut

10th April, 2017
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Chadd Sayers. (AAP Image/James Elsby)
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10th April, 2017
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Chadd Sayers was named Sheffield Shield player of the season this past week, but he’s still well back in the pecking order for an Ashes berth next summer.

Here I’ve ranked Australia’s top ten Test pace options.

1. Josh Hazlewood (NSW)
26 years old, 118 Test wickets at 25

Hazlewood isn’t just Australia’s best red-ball bowler, but also the ICC’s top-ranked Test paceman in the world. His unerring accuracy, sharp bounce and ability to move the ball just enough through the air and off the seam ensure that even elite batsmen rarely look at ease while facing him.

Hazlewood is a captain’s dream, due to his ability to remain effective in all conditions, as evidenced by the fact he averages 25 both home and away.

2. Mitchell Starc (NSW)
27 years old, 148 Test wickets at 28

It was tough to split Australia’s gun opening pair. Hazlewood is the better Test bowler, at this stage, but there is a case to be made that Starc is more irreplaceable. There is no bowler like him in the world – a 196cm left armer who swings the ball at 150kmh.

He adds wonderful variety to Australia’s attack, something which is missing from the England pace unit, for example.

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Australias Mitchell Starc

3. James Pattinson (Victoria)
26 years old, 70 Test wickets at 26

Pattinson has been in rampant touch since returning to first-class cricket two months ago, taking 32 wickets at 16 from six matches.

After bowling well for Victoria in the Sheffield Shield final, the firebrand made a massive statement on debut for Notts in English county cricket this past week, grabbing match figures of 8-94 to go with a knock of 89*.

He is a natural strike bowler who seeks wickets as a priority and loves to intimidate batsmen with his pace and hostility. Pattinson’s strike rate of 46.8 in Tests is truly remarkable – the best by an Australian bowler (minimum 50 Test wickets) in the past 100 years.

4. Pat Cummins (NSW)
23 years old, 15 Test wickets at 24

Cummins possesses a rare combination of express pace and impressive accuracy, as I detailed in a recent story for The Roar.

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Pat Cummins Cricket Australia 2017 tall

5. Jackson Bird (Tasmania)
30 years old, 34 Test wickets at 27

I was tempted to rank both Sayers and Behrendorff ahead of Bird. The lanky Tasmanian often looks innocuous at Test level, and I tend to be more impressed by that aforementioned pair than by Bird when I watch them play in the Shield. Yet Bird has made solid contributions across his stop-start Test career and his record is particularly impressive considering he’s never had a decent run in the Australian side to build form and confidence.

Perhaps Sayers and Behrendorff could outperform him in Tests, but they haven’t done it yet, so Bird deserves this ranking.

6. Chadd Sayers (South Australia)
29 years old, 229 first-class wickets at 23

Sayers would be a fantastic third quick to complement Hazlewood and Starc in Tests. Aside from his obvious quality, he is significantly slower than both men and about 20cm shorter, so he has a vastly different trajectory, which adds variety to the attack.

He also has a skill neither of them possess – the ability to swing the new and old ball in both directions. Among Test quicks worldwide, only England’s James Anderson has consistently achieved this. Crucially, Sayers has a rare capacity for bowling extremely long, tight spells, which would mean Australia would have less need for a batting all-rounder at six.

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7. Jason Behrendorff (Western Australia)
26 years old, 123 first-class wickets at 23

Behrendorff oozes quality. The 194cm-tall left armer swings the ball late and more consistently than Starc. He doesn’t have the startling speed of Starc, operating in the 133-140kmh range, but is comfortably more accurate. Behrendorff would make any other Test team in the world, bar South Africa.

He returned from injury late in the Shield season and immediately ran amok, taking 23 wickets at 14 from three matches, including a match haul of 14-89 against three-peat Shield champions Victoria.

8. Chris Tremain (Victoria)
25 years old, 119 first-class wickets at 25

Tremain has finished in the top-five wicket takers in the Shield in each of the past two seasons, for a combined haul of 78 wickets at 20. The 193cm right armer has hurrying pace, having reached 147kmh in his debut ODI series in South Africa last year, and also earns startling bounce.

Tremain’s biggest weapon, though, is his late outswinger, which so regularly kisses the outside edge of right-handed batsmen.

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9. Joe Mennie (South Australia)
28 years old, 183 first-class wickets at 26

Mennie had a tumultuous and ever-so-brief stint in the Test team this past summer. The consistent seamer was surprisingly selected ahead of Bird and Sayers for the second Test against South Africa in Hobart in November.

On a green seamer which South Africa’s quicks exploited brilliantly, Mennie was unable to trouble the visiting batsmen on debut. He was one of four Australians who were dumped for the following Test.

Joe Mennie bowls

10. Simon Mackin (Western Australia)
24 years old, 69 first-class wickets at 26

Mackin is the most speculative pick on this list, having played just 19 first-class matches for WA so far. At 203cm he is freakishly tall, which offers him an invaluable point of difference to other bowlers, but he isn’t a one-trick-pony who relies on his high release-point to earn wickets.

Mackin has impressive control and has shown the ability to slowly strangle batsmen. He is similar in style to Hazlewood, nagging away on an in-between length just outside off stump while moving the ball just enough.

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