The Australian fast bowling attack was bullied and demolished in the first Ashes Test of the 2015 Series in Cardiff.
They didn’t have penetration to run through England and the strike weapon in Mitchell Johnson was almost powerless. While the pitch had something to do with it, the problem ran far deeper than that and an in-form Joe Root.
The biggest part of the problem facing the Australian fast bowlers was the fact that Ryan Harris, the workhorse and leader of the attack, had decided to pull the pin on his incredible cricket career.
Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, all pin-the-ears-back type bowlers who will try and get a wicket off nearly every ball, were left standing. As good as that may sound it is not a viable solution in Test cricket.
When you do that, you leave yourself open to getting balls wrong which can be punished, and batsman have all the time in the world to just play out good ball after good ball.
With Harris missing there was a noticeable difference, particularly to Johnson’s bowling which wasn’t helped by the pitch prepared. However, with reports that the same sort of pitch that was dished up in Cardiff has been ordered for all of the next four Test matches, starting with Lord’s on Thursday, this is going to create a massive problem for the Aussies.
Strike bowlers are good in One-Day cricket, however Test cricket requires a quick bowler or two who are prepared to work and toil away all day, keeping the pressure on the batsman, bowling consistent lines and lengths, and in turn setting up wickets for his partner at the other end.
Bowling in partnerships seems to be one of the most undervalued features in modern day cricket and a perfect example of this is Harris and Johnson. With Harris holding down an end, batsman often got frustrated with not scoring runs.
They would either try and hit out against the slower Harris and he would pick up the wickets or Johnson would bowl something out of the textbook from the other end and snare a victim.
Australia need at least one bowler in the attack who is prepared to just work away at a low economy rate, frustrate batsman and create wickets for others.
While good balls take wickets when it comes to strike weapons, there is too much rubbish that allows the pressure to be taken off.
So where does the Australian attack turn to?
In the short term they can only pick players that are in the Ashes squad and that limits the selections to either Peter Siddle or Patrick Cummins. Mitchell Starc will more than likely miss the second Test due to injury and one of these players should get a run.
Cummins is another one of these strike weapon bowlers while Siddle is a Ryan Harris equivalent, even if he realistically isn’t half the player he was just a few years ago.
In the long term though, Australia need a permanent replacement for Harris. So where exactly do Australia turn?
As stated above, Siddle really isn’t the player he was a few years ago and as Ronan O’Connell wrote on Tuesday, he just doesn’t have the penetration to run through the English team.
So who else is in Australia? The first name that springs to my mind is Trent Copeland. The New South Wales bowler is accurate, consistent and gives away very few runs. He helps set up wickets at the other end and is able to pick up a fair share of his own wickets.
Another who could potentially fill the void left by Harris is Doug Bollinger. He bowled well last domestic season and like Harris or Siddle he has the ability to run in all day and just bowl. The only problem is that he is left handed, like Johnson and Starc. Age is also going to be against him.
Jack Bird is also an interesting project for the Australian selectors. While he could also be classified as a strike bowler, he has the ability to hold down an end, bowl consistently and create wickets for the strike weapons.
Nathan Coulter-Nile and Nathan Rimmington could also be looked at by the Aussie selectors. While they don’t look like playing Test cricket in the near future they both have the potential to fill the void left by Harris.
The final options to replace Harris in the Australian attack are the bowling all-round duo of Ben Cutting and James Faulkner. Both have the ability to bowl big chunks of overs at a time and with further development could replace Harris. This option would also give Australia an extra batsman.
So what do you think Roarers? Do Australia need to replace Harris with a similar bowler or can they just go all out with strike weapons?
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