Does Australia have the best fast bowling group in the world?

[mas cambios]

Re: Australia's Bowling Depth

My take on it is this - at the moment you seem to have a decent group of bowlers, many of who are suited to one form of the game or the other. Many of them are also able to switch between formats which is always handy. However, a fair few of them are largely untested in foreign climes, especially those places which tend to produce flat wickets or pitches that suit spinners.

Bowling well at home, against weak or mentally shot opposition is one thing. Playing against a strong team on their patch is another. Both the Windies and Pakistani batting line ups are weak (for various reasons) you should be doing well against them.

As I also said, some of these bowlers are very new to the international scene. It takes time to videos and analysis to filter back to opposition coaches. The acid test is always around 18 months after their début. Can they still produce or will they get worked out?

The key to any attack is adaptability and players who compliment each other. You appear to have that - pace, swing, left arm, hustle/bustle and players who bowl a heavy ball. Get them all fit and firing and they will be a handful but as I said give it 18 months or so and then see where you are.

 

[LIONS then DAYLIGHT]

Re: Australia's Bowling Depth

My take on it is this - at the moment you seem to have a decent group of bowlers, many of who are suited to one form of the game or the other. Many of them are also able to switch between formats which is always handy. However, a fair few of them are largely untested in foreign climes, especially those places which tend to produce flat wickets or pitches that suit spinners.

Bowling well at home, against weak or mentally shot opposition is one thing. Playing against a strong team on their patch is another. Both the Windies and Pakistani batting line ups are weak (for various reasons) you should be doing well against them.

As I also said, some of these bowlers are very new to the international scene. It takes time to videos and analysis to filter back to opposition coaches. The acid test is always around 18 months after their début. Can they still produce or will they get worked out?

The key to any attack is adaptability and players who compliment each other. You appear to have that - pace, swing, left arm, hustle/bustle and players who bowl a heavy ball. Get them all fit and firing and they will be a handful but as I said give it 18 months or so and then see where you are.

I disagree about the 18 month theory, that may apply to batsmen but it doesn't IMO apply to bowlers.

A good ball is still a good ball, anaylsing a bowler doesn't change that. That is fundamentally different to analysing a batsmen, where you can identify an area of weakness to target.

Take Mitchell Johnson for example, when he releases the ball his arm and hand is in the same position as a right arm bowler bowling over the wicket. Mark Taylor did this analysis back in November - comparing Ben Hilfenhaus' release position to that of Mitchell Johnson - the area of release was nearly identical which is amazing considering each bowler bowls with a different hand.

As such when batsmen are facing Johnson they are drawn to play at the ball when they don't have to. This is because Johnson's ball release and immediate flight path is identical to a right arm over bowler. You could tell batsmen this, and instruct them to leave the ball but that is very hard to do with a bowler of Johnson's pace.

New Zealand tried a similar tactic to McGrath in the 01/02 season but he was barely 130. Johnson is considerably quicker, combined with Johnson's erratic bowling it is very hard for any batsmen to settle into a rhythm of methodically letting balls go.

I agree about the foreign pitchs and the fact these bowlers are largely unproven in those conditions. However, in the immediate future we will be playing in New Zealand, England and Australia.

New Zealand will likely juice their wickets up for our tour to give their pop gun attack a chance - that will benefit us.

 

[gbatman]

Re: Australia's Bowling Depth

Dan Christian is not far away from making it in the Aussie team. Talented swing bowling all rounder.