At the start of the Ashes series in 2017 the Autralian bowling line-up was being touted as the best Australia’s ever had.
Last year’s Ashes series was a complete performance from Australia’s bowling unit. All four had taken 20 wickets in the series and Australia, with the help of Steve Smith and Shaun Marsh, who both made plenty of runs, won the home series 4-0 against the touring English team.
However, ever since South Africa came back from a hiding in Durban to win the Test series 3-1, Australia’s bowlers have not been able to carry a batting unit that has struggled. So are they really as good as it’s being made out they are?
Let’s compare them to the fast bowlers who are touring. Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami have out-bowled Australia. Only Nathan Lyon could hold claims to having out-bowled his opposition spinner, and now he looks tired from the number of overs he’s bowled to date this summer.
At the moment no Indian paceman is averaging over 26 with the ball, while no Australian pacemean is averaging under 25. At the moment a series in Australia is seeing the home team’s bowlers being dominated by a country known more for their spinners than their fast men.
A concern for the Australian bowlers is on the super slow motion replays. The Indian bowlers have the ball coming out with the seam in a beautiful position. In comparison, Mitch Starc and Pat Cummins both have a scrambled seam far too often. It’s a worry for Australia, with a tour of England coming up in 2019. However, the problem is here and now, because there is still a series on the line.
So if India’s bowlers have got the ball coming out beautifully and the Australians haven’t, let’s find out who their coaches are, because the buck needs to stop somewhere.
The Australian bowling coach is former big-hearted Victorian seamer David Saker. Not high enough quality to play for his country but a good Shield bowler, Saker needs to find improvement in his big three pacemen. At the moment there is improvement in them. To be quite frank, with the exception of an inspired spell late on Day 3 in Melbourne from Pat Cummins, all 75 kilograms of Nathan Lyon has carried the big guys this summer.
(AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
India’s bowling coach is Bharat Arun. If you blinked you would have missed his career, which consisted of only four wickets from two Test matches. He has got India’s attack bowling nicely, though. The ball was moving throughout both Australia’s innings in Melbourne, which came after Australia bowled close to 170 overs of straight balls in India’s first innings.
Despite the struggles of Australia’s fast bowlers, Cheteshwar Pujara has been the star of the series for India.
After tours to South Africa and England, where Virat Kohli carried an underperforming batting unit, Pujara has stood tall. Pujara is closing in on a 500-run series and has led from the front since the opening day in Adelaide. His innings in Adelaide was the defining moment of the series to date. He may have just about laid the platform for India to complete their first series win down under.
Wtih Mayank Agarwal getting his Test career off to a fine start with a couple of 50s, India have found their men to take the heat off Virat Kohli, something they badly needed in this series.
Sarang Khargonkar
Guest
I don't see how this Aussie attack has been tagged as Best in the world. First, They couldn't buy a wicket in MCG and SCG 1st innings. If the bowlers are tagged Best in the world, they should be able to take wickets anywhere (at least on home soil) just like you expect the best batsman in the world to score runs anywhere and not just at home. Second, as the author rightly said, the ball started moving (even reverse) as soon as Bumrah and Shami were bowling on Day 3 at MCG and SCG. Can't Aussies make ball reverse without using Sandpaper? Third, if they are the best bowlers, why didn't we see any variations? Bouncers after bouncers, 5th/6th stump line good length balls to batsmen like Pujara who was not remotely interested, will not fetch you wickets. Where were the occassional yorkers, slower balls? Indians showed far more skills. Lyon was hit out of the attack by young debutant Mayank. If Aussies complain about MCG and SCG as "Indian type wickets", don't forget that the same Aus bowling was outbowled by Indian bowling in "Aus like" pitch in Dharamsala test in 2017. Aussie batting line up, including Smith and Warner, was bounced and spun out then to clinch the series. No wonder, Ind is no. 1 ranked and Aussies are 5th or even lower after today.
The Anti-Don
Roar Rookie
I'm not saying the evidence is damning ... just that some things dont add up. As for the sugar, I am no expert in ball tampering techniques but my understanding is that sugar assists the reverse swing process somehow... see the kerfuffle around the English and their mints and lollies... see Faf and his lollies furore and subsequent guilty verdict... I agree it was amateurish... and the cover up attempt even more so... but than so was the Watergate break-in...and that didnt end up real good for the people doing the covering.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
I feel our problem, especially in this last test was the propensity for bowling short. A few wickets but that was it. The captain and bowling coach should have come down on bowling more line and length than short pitched.
qwetzen
Roar Rookie
JT: Kaspa or Bich may have won it too if they had Lee's opportunities... Bottom line: 30.8 isn't the average of a "great".
Graham Hauritz
Guest
I feel that the Australian attack is carrying one or two of its bowlers. You can't really afford to do that. Even bowling greats like Shane Warne have found themselves dropped from the Australian team when they underperformed.
Jacko
Guest
The "kookaburra" doesnt swing like the "Duke" does either and Aus bowlers arnt used to it. Time to swap permanently to the Duke I think.
James T
Guest
Lee won the AB medal in 2008. Was very good after Warne and McGrath retired but body kept breaking down
Extra Short Leg
Roar Rookie
Agreed. It was primary school stuff.
Extra Short Leg
Roar Rookie
A ball delivered a 140k is a handful. A ball swinging both ways at 140k is a nightmare.
qwetzen
Roar Rookie
@George: His first two. After that, he was in Kaspa/Bichel territory.
qwetzen
Roar Rookie
A-D: a) I can't imagine how a teaspoon of sugar would be of any long-term use in ball tampering. If you were sucking it to make sugary saliva to add to the ball then the sugar would be gone in an over, and sugar wouldn't be hard enough to abrade the leather. Do we even know what type of sugar it was? If it was castor sugar then it'd be no use at all in roughing up the surface. And I'm fully aware that the oxymoron which was the Australian Brains Trust were in no danger of joining Mensa, but even they probably realised that having specks of white falling from the hands of the designated polisher would be as easy to spot as a crook in parliament. b) I don't have your Total Recall of all recent Tests so some substantial, supporting evidence of your assertion would be handy to your campaign. The only bowler from that series I can readily recall consistently reversing was Rabada.
Chris Love
Roar Guru
Are our bowlers over rated? I don’t think so, though yesterday they did start bowling short far too early but I’m thinking that was a devised plan. Just a bad one. The problem with our bowlers this series is our batsmen and the pitches. Sure Adelaide was a great surface, WA was flat as a tack while we were bowling. Melbourne was a another borefest. The SCG the same. When the bowlers have got to put their feet up this series they’re straight back out having to do the batsmen’s job for them. BTW sack the selectors.
Chris Love
Roar Guru
Cummins is now our most resilient quick.
The Anti-Don
Roar Rookie
David Rhys-Jones.
The Anti-Don
Roar Rookie
Perhaps q.... but if so, can you give logical explanations for the following 2 oddities: a) the Bancroft sugar-in-the-pocket episode? and b) pre the Cape Town test match, our three fast bowlers were moving the ball left and right and were getting reverse from the old ball seemingly at will... since the Cape Town test, those very same three bowlers have barely swung it all.. if at all.
The Anti-Don
Roar Rookie
Marsh bowled gun barrel straight last test... that's all he's ever had the ability to do. You are off-the-scale delusional and getting worse by the day DF.
George
Guest
Classic Don delusion.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
The answer is yes. And the decline in their performance over the last year has been well-documented. Only Ireland and Afghanistan had a worse team bowling average in 2018. But it’s also important to understand that they were well behind South Africa as best attack in the world before it was underlined in the series in South Africa. The record of Rabada, Steyn and Philander backed by Ngidi and now Olivier is amazing. The worst/highest bowling average of all of them is Steyn at 22.7, which is one of the best of all time by a bowler who will go down as one of the greats and better than any of the Australians. Recent SA tracks have helped their figures but they’ve still done well around the world.
George
Guest
Lee had one or two good years at Test level.
George
Guest
The only thing your boy Marsh (he who you claim not to bring up) does extensively is receive favouritism from selectors.