Our pace bowlers

[courtjester]

We seem to suddenly have a few in form pace bowlers. Wasn't so long ago that we had Hilf, Siddle and MJ bowling, and I thought we were stuffed for quicks. Thankfully Johnson is now out, and Hilf and Siddle are bowling a heap better and smarter.

This has coincided with the emergence of Pattinson and Cummins, both of whom had breakout starts to their career. I look forward to those two opening the bowling for many years to come.

Now, we are in the position of having the following in the stable, and hopefully all will soon be available:

Pattinson
Cummins
Harris
Siddle
Hilfenhaus

as well as Starc, Hazelwood, Cutting, Coulter-Nile around.


My question is, if all the above are fully fit, who is our A-attack for the rest of this year and next year?

 

[red+black]

I've put the top 5 in a rough order. Harris is a must if fit, then I'd stick with Siddle and Hilfenhaus for the time being. Pattinson is next in.

[B]             Age   Tests  Wickets[/B]
----------------------------------
Harris        32     8     35 @ 21 (F/C 170 @ 27)
Siddle        27    29    102 @ 30
Hilfenhaus    28    19     70 @ 31
Pattinson     21     4     25 @ 18 (F/C  57 @ 23)
Cummins       18     1      7 @ 16 (F/C  16 @ 33)
----------------------------------
Cutting       24     0       n/a   (F/C  85 @ 26)
Starc         21     2      4 @ 50 (F/C  53 @ 34)
Coulter-Nile  24     0       n/a   (F/C  41 @ 23)
Hazlewood     20     0       n/a   (F/C  34 @ 28)

 

[aussierulesrules]

You could probably just about throw a blanket over those first 5 at the moment. You could argue that Harris, Cummins and Patto are the best 3, or have the most talent, but Hilfy also has a heap and has taken piles of wickets since returning and Siddle is getting crucial wickets every innings now and has really stepped up.
Unless it's a very spin-friendly pitch, I reckon we'll be better off going in with 4 of them in most matches for the rest of the year, as they are probably all more likely to get more top order wickets, especially, than Nathan Lyon, at this stage.
With all our young fast bowling talent, his could also be the case for the next 10 or so years, unless someone does exceptionally well bowling spin, especially if the trend of providing pitches with more "juice" in them continues here.
We ought to play to our strengths and play each ball on its merits, IMO.

 

[The Passenger]

i think our clear top five at the moment is harris, siddle, hilfenhaus, pattinson and cummins... it's near impossible to seperate them and with siddle and hilf lifting from last years ashes debacle then that unit looks very very solid.

Coulter-Nile is such a good prospect. Along with Pattinson he probably has the best action of any in that crop.

Cutting gets loads of bounce and i'm always a bit of a sucker for a quick bowler who likes to get nice and high which he does.

Faulkner and Buttworth are two who i reckon definately belong in the talks, although Butterworth might be getting a bit on in age.

And then there are another bunch of lads who are pretty handy but seem to be a bit forgotten at the moment;

trent copeland - having a disaster since returning from sri lanka. february and beyond will decide whether he gets back in the frame. he is in a position where he may only play one or two more matches for NSW

clint mckay - solid season. good bowler, but is a bit up and down. excellent one day record.

peter george

ryan duffield from WA also swings it a good bit, but is a pretty unconventional looking bowler, but so far has had success. injured at the moment and don't think he is scheduled to play at all this summer (WA boys can help out there...)

jayde herrick and jackson bird have enjoyed success since getting a run in the FC scene...

who knows where mitchell johnson is at... you'd have to think he's played his last test... i can just see the outrage on bigfooty when the selectors reinstate him immediately upon his return "Given he was the incumbent before his injury we only felt it was fair to give him his spot back"....

 

[Kyptastic]

I wouldn't say Cummins is in that top five off the back of just one test (or even an automatic inclusion when he returns from injury). Yeah, he bowled well, but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Two words:

Craig McDermott

 

[PAFCsince1870]

Amazing that Ryan Harris has only 170 wickets and managed only 50 FC matches at the age of 32. I knew his body was stuffed but didn't realise it had been that bad for that long.

 

[realsniper09]

It's so hard to pick our best 3. We may have to decide in each test whether Lyon plays or not or go with the 4th seamer...

Cummins was superb, but at the moment, he's not up there with the other 4 on the back of one performance.
As for the other 4, you'd have to take the pitch, and most importantly I think, form in to consideration.

It won't be this rosy for too much longer I don't think, as everyone will have their ups and downs. Whoever is having a down patch, unfortunately, would probably have to be dropped to 12th man given the quality of the bowler they would be keeping out if played.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Gee NCN has pretty good first class stats.. He is going to be a very good cricketer. If we get them all on the park at the same time we could be unstoppable.

 

[BarneyBent]

Two words:

Craig McDermott

He's a bit old, isn't he?

Agree though, he has made a massive difference to Siddle, and maybe Hilfy as well. If nothing else, he's shown how inept Cooley was.

 

[The Passenger]

Gee NCN has pretty good first class stats.. He is going to be a very good cricketer. If we get them all on the park at the same time we could be unstoppable.

superb action and nice easy run up too...

not the worst batsmen and has a few catches to his name for a quick bowler (7 from 9 matches)... saw him make a couple of run outs in the T20 the other night so i reckon he's likely to be a good fielder.

 

[aussie1st]

The depth we could have in the fast bowling department could rival the great batting depth we had in the 90s and 00s.

For me Pattinson is first one picked then a fit Harris. 3rd spot is tricky Hilfy is really going well while Siddle has stood up since being made leader of the pack. Flip of the coin for both. Still carving seeing Pattinson and Cummins together.

 

[CHIEF SMACKAHOE]

full strength pace attack is pattinson, siddle, harris and watson

 

[aussierulesrules]

superb action and nice easy run up too...

not the worst batsmen and has a few catches to his name for a quick bowler (7 from 9 matches)... saw him make a couple of run outs in the T20 the other night so i reckon he's likely to be a good fielder.

They go on and on about his fielding during the commentary of his Big Bash matches. Fields in the all important long off position (that gets so much traffic) and he's like another Warner down there, almost, with a serious arm on him as well. Very, very athletic.

 

[red+black]

I'd say our 4 pace bowlers have done ok today. Thankfully we complemented that by winning the toss.

 

[FRUMPY]

The 3 for the near future are Pattinson/Siddle/Hilfy. Harris has proved over his whole career he cannot stay fir and therefore isnt in the best 3. He can be the replacement when one of the other 3 is rested as has been talked about.

Cummins will need a while to get some cricket under his belt before he plays another test match. Will be first cab off rank if one of the top 3 gets injured/form drops.

But as someone mentioned earlier, Craig McDermott is the answer to our prayers. He has told them all to pitch it up and swing it. Siddle is a completly different bowler, as is pattinson who were both short of a length bowlers for the vics (as coached by the vics).

 

[Upgrayedd]

Has everybody forgot about that bloke who won the game for us against the best cricket team in the world?

I would take Cummins over Harris, Just

 

[Father Jack]

I can't help but wonder if McDermott (or whoever it is waving the magic wand at the moment) can't fix Johnson as well.

 

[Bomber Bears]

I think no Johnson has helped enormously. There isnt a bowler releasing the pressure now and it's helping the team to bowl as a unit

 

[the 5th wiggle]

Gee NCN has pretty good first class stats.. He is going to be a very good cricketer. If we get them all on the park at the same time we could be unstoppable.

Yeh looks a good prospect with a nice action.he might be a chance for west indies tour(depending on how many extras they take).

 

[the 5th wiggle]

I can't help but wonder if McDermott (or whoever it is waving the magic wand at the moment) can't fix Johnson as well.

I dont think he does miracles.

 

[AM]

The depth we could have in the fast bowling department could rival the great batting depth we had in the 90s and 00s.

For me Pattinson is first one picked then a fit Harris. 3rd spot is tricky Hilfy is really going well while Siddle has stood up since being made leader of the pack. Flip of the coin for both. Still carving seeing Pattinson and Cummins together.

Siddle has been a key all year. Had he had a little luck could have half a dozen more wickets. Made the key break through today and had he been able to return immediately after tea would have had the cherry with the fragile Indian tail facing him.

 

[Father Jack]

Imagine though, if we had Johnson consistently bowling at his best combined with his useful lower order batting how much better the team would look?

Dreamers can dream, i suppose.

 

[The Passenger]

I think no Johnson has helped enormously. There isnt a bowler releasing the pressure now and it's helping the team to bowl as a unit

i reckon it's been a massive help for us.

there are two things that **** up a ball quicker than anything else

1 - hard, grassless decks

2 - shit bowling getting smashed

since coming back to australia we've had a nice cover of grass on each wicket which helps protect the ball. and we haven't had johnson getting spanked for boundaries at regular intervals...

that massively helps to keep the ball in good order for guys to swing it. combined with them taking on board the advice to pitch it up, it's starting to come into shape.

 

[Keys]

I can't help but wonder if McDermott (or whoever it is waving the magic wand at the moment) can't fix Johnson as well.

I agree

He's fixed siddle who has less natural talent than Johnson. Makes you wonder what he might be able to do with Mitch