Ranking Australia's ODI quicks

Australia incredibly have used 11 different specialist quicks in their past nine ODIs, with the pace pecking order changing constantly.

Jason Behrendorff, Peter Siddle, Jhye Richardson and Bill Stanlake are the pacemen in Australia’s current squad battling India, replacing Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins, who were the four quicks used in their last series against South Africa.

In the ODI series before that Australia had another vastly different set of quicks including Michael Neser, Andrew Tye and Kane Richardson.

Such has been the dizzying rotation of fast bowlers in and out of the Australian ODI setup that there is not one quick who has played in more than two of those three recent series.

This makes it very difficult to get an accurate sense of Australia’s pace pecking order just over five months out from the World Cup.

It seems likely the so-called Big Three – Australia’s starting Test quicks Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins – make up their first-choice ODI pace unit.

Yet that trio have been in and out of the one-day side in recent times and their performances have suffered due to this lack of continuity.

In the past two years, Starc has averaged 30 with the ball from 15 matches, having averaged an incredible 19.6 in his ODI career up until then.

Hazlewood, meanwhile, has been limited to just six ODIs in the past 18 months, averaging 35 with the ball across those matches. But it is Cummins who has laboured the most. The young quick made a fantastic start to his ODI career but in the past two years has averaged a whopping 45 with the ball from 20 matches.

(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

Cummins’ deep form slump in ODIs seems to have escaped public attention in part because of his scattered appearances in the format, and also perhaps due to his concurrent starring efforts at Test level.

The reality is Cummins should be far from an automatic selection in Australia’s starting XI for the World Cup. In fact, he should have to show improvement in white ball cricket just to make Australia’s squad for that tournament.

Starc is a lock due to his overall ODI pedigree, his rampant effort at the last World Cup, and his crucial death bowling. Hazlewood, meanwhile, is Australia’s most economical ODI quick, conceding just 4.73 runs per over in his career.

Cummins, however, has significantly more to prove in 50-over cricket. The likes of Coulter-Nile, Jhye Richardson, Behrendorff, Tye and Stanlake each have enough talent to have an impact at the World Cup.

Coulter-Nile has been impressive in his ODI career, grabbing 38 wickets at 26 thanks to his pace, swing, nice changeups and sharp bouncer. He also adds batting depth, as he showed with several handy innings in recent white ball outings for Australia, and is an outstanding fieldsman.

Behrendorff has long seemed destined to have a major impact at the international level. If he stays fit he offers Australia great versatility thanks to his ability to attack with the new ball, play a holding role in the middle overs, and bowl with precision and calm at the death.

(Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

Richardson is greener, but oozes talent and has great variety and an admirable temperament for a 22-year-old. Stanlake, meanwhile, is the second-most unplayable quick in Australia on his day, behind only Starc. Standing 204cm tall and capable of topping 150kmh, he has produced several jaw-dropping spells in white ball cricket for Australia.

In Stanlake’s last ODI he dismissed England stars Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Eoin Morgan in the space of 10 balls to reduce England to 4-27.

Last year in a T20I he also steamrolled the top order of the world’s number one team Pakistan, taking 4-8. And earlier in 2018 he grabbed three wickets in his first eight balls against NZ to earn the Man of the Match award.

Stanlake’s consistency is his Achilles’ heel at this point, although Australia could choose to use him as a wildcard in the World Cup given his rare ability to run through elite batting lineups.

Then there’s Tye, who has been left out of Australia’s last two ODI series but who owns more varieties than any other quick in Australia and has looked very good at times in his brief international career. The experienced quick is also coming off a hot JLT Cup in which he took 18 wickets at 16 for WA. Just where Tye sits in Australia’s planning for the World Cup is anyone’s guess.

The same could be said of half a dozen other budding ODI quicks. Australia’s pace pecking order is a mess.