- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Australia have selected a strong team of seam bowlers to contest the Ashes in the UK. You can judge this by who has been left out.
Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus have 304 test wickets between them. Can Australia afford to leave them at home?
Do the selectors feel they are past their best and not part of the future? Or do the selectors simply believe there are better options?
I am inclined to think that the selectors believe the bowlers they have picked are the best options in English conditions, although I do have a nagging suspicion that Johnson and Hilfenhaus are not in the selectors’ thinking down the track.
I don’t think age is a factor: Ryan Harris is older than Mitch and Ben.
It would have been a difficult decision leaving Hilfenhaus at home. His bowling does suit English conditions, but he can bowl a bit short at times, which makes his outswinger less effective.
For this reason, I believe they went with Harris, whose stock ball is a bit fuller in length.
Personally, I would have been tempted to bring them both.
Johnson, on the other hand, would have been a more straightforward decision. His inconsistency with line and length, as well as not being able to swing the ball regularly, has cost him a seat on the plane.
So let’s have a look at who Australia have picked in the pace bowling department.
Peter Siddle is an aggressive paceman who has benefitted from bowling a fuller length and improving his strength and fitness.
I respect how he has taken ownership of his game and identified what he needed to do to get better and has gone out and done it.
My one concern with Peter is how he is going to be utilised: is he the short burst, aggressive fast bowler? Or will he be asked to do the ‘donkey work’, bowling long spells when the ball is older?
It will be interesting to see which way Australia go, but I would like to see him in an attacking role, in 5 over bursts of aggression.
There is a lot to like about James Pattinson. He is a fast, aggressive bowler who can get movement away from the right hander. He has a good short ball and can ruffle a few English feathers.
The question will be simply whether he can get through five Test matches.
Mitchell Starc bowls good pace, swings the ball back into the right hander, and has a very good Yorker.
The challenge for Mitchell is going to be making sure his wrist position is consistent to allow the ball the opportunity to swing into the right hander and not get too ‘floaty’.
By this I mean not just looking to put the ball there, but actually bowling the ball hard into the pitch on a good length. He will finish his action, and if his release of the ball is good, the Duke cricket ball will swing for him.
I have not seen much of Jackson Bird, but from what I have seen, his bowling is well suited to English conditions. He is tall, has decent pace and bowls good old-fashioned line and length. Natural variation off the wicket hitting the seam will be his best weapon.
Ryan Harris hustles in and hits the bat hard, bowling a good length. He gets movement through the air and off the pitch. He is always at the batsman, making him play all the time, and bowls long spells.
The concern will be whether his ageing body can cope, as he has had some injuries in the recent past.
It will be interesting to see which all rounder gets the nod for the first Test, if they go down that path: Watson or Faulkner?
If the selectors believe Watson is in the best six batsmen, he can slot in and be the fifth bowling option with Brad Haddin playing his aggressive style of game at number 7.
Faulkner is the better bowler of the two all-rounders but Watson is the superior batsman. Faulkner brings left arm variation and he swings the ball at decent pace.
He is not yet good enough to bat at six in Test cricket, but his batting is improving.
This is Jason Gillespie’s first column for The Roar. He will be writing regularly for The Roar over the Ashes series.