While Shane Warne remains Australia’s – and arguably the world’s, ever – greatest bowler, Australia have had a rich history, an incessant supply of fast bowlers. From Terry Alderman to Merv Hughes and Dennis Lillee to Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie, and Brett Lee to Mitchell Johnson to the current trio of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood. Who was the greatest of them: for most, the debate is between Lillee and McGrath.
However, the current Test skipper, Pat Cummins, is set to challenge the legacy of those two giants.
Cummins made his Test debut in Jo’burg in 2011 and picked 6/79. But he didn’t play a single Test for the next six years due to multiple injuries. But once he was back in 2017, he rarely missed Test matches and scaled great heights, leading toward the number 1 Test bowler in ICC rankings.
He swings a little, he seams a little. And that is what he needs to get the batter out. Just a little bit of movement to get the batter playing the wrong line – either taking his outside edge or beating his inside edge. Arguably no pacer in the world right now is as good at hitting the top of the stumps for a sustained period in Test cricket as Pat Cummins.
Rating Australia’s top 5 Test fast bowlers of 21st century:
Glenn McGrath
Hailed as the greatest fast bowler of all time by many, McGrath took 258 Test wickets at an average of 21.28 since Jan 2001. No Australian pacer with over 100 Test wickets in the 21st century has a better bowling average than McGrath’s.
Pat Cummins
Cummins, the face of Australian cricket, has 258 Test wickets at an average of 2.13, just a little behind McGrath. But, Cummins’s strike rate – the number of deliveries a bowler takes to take each wicket – of 46.2 is better than McGrath’s 52.4.
Australia becomes the number 1 ranked Test team in the world.
– Captain Pat Cummins….!!!! 🫡 pic.twitter.com/4j6IwLWYv2
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) January 5, 2024
Josh Hazlewood
The lanky pacer who gets undershadowed by the Cummins and Starc, Josh Hazlewood has 249 Test wickets at an average of 25.95.
Jason Gillespie
From 2001 to 2006, a period of good batting pitches in Test cricket, Jason Gillespie snapped 191 Test wickets at an average of 28 and kept a brilliant economy of 2.84.
Mitchell Starc
Mitchell Starc is right now Australia’s top wicket-taker among pacers in the 21st century, with 345 wickets at 27. His 14 five-fors are the most in this category.
Also Read: The Good And Bad Of David Warner: A Great With The Bat But An Imperfect Role Model
