Australia are a team that relies heavily on their pace battery to deliver the goods for them in most conditions. But with the recent retirement of the terrifying Mitchell Johnson, who was a master of the short ball and could reverse the ball at great pace thus taking the pitch out of the equation, and Mitchell Starc who will miss the World Cup due to an injury, the Australian pace stocks have suddenly dipped. They have not picked up James Pattinson who could have bowled at a fiery pace and the Shaun Tait experiment did not go too well for them in the India series. They have picked up three quicks, two of which have been impressive recently while one is injured currently.
Josh Hazlewood
Hazlewood is a right arm fast medium bowler in the mould of Australian great Glenn McGrath who generally bowls tight lines, seldom giving the batsmen room to free their arms and have a swipe at the ball. He has the ability to move the ball both ways and his off stump line suffocates the batsman in to making a mistake. He is in prime form at the moment picking up wickets in both test and ODI formats for Australia. He had a stellar test series against the touring West Indians and Kiwis before being the highest wicket taker in the Chappell-Hadlee trophy which concluded last week. He has also started the New Zealand tests well, picking up 4 top order batsmen with some magical bowling.
He will be a threat in India if there is variable bounce because he generally attacks the stumps and he might be able to nibble the ball under lights which will test the opposition out.
Impact Rating – 7/10
John Hastings
John Hastings is a bulky right arm fast medium bowler who has been rewarded with a place in the Aussie WT20 squad on the back of his recent terrific showing against the touring Indian side in their victorious 4-1 ODI campaign. He was the wrecker in chief of the strong Indian batting line-up, often pegging them back with important blows while also keeping the run flow in check with tight bowling. He relies more on his variations, rather than on pace to confound the batsmen, and is also a very handy lower order batsman, a skill which he demonstrated recently, when he combined with Mitch Marsh to win Australia the second match of the Chappell-Hadlee trophy making a valuable 48*.
His control and natural variations along with the subtle changes of pace will make him a dangerous customer to deal with even on the flat Indian pitches.
Impact Rating – 7/10
The Australians have also picked the hugely talented Nathan Coulter-Nile but he is currently recovering from a shoulder injury and his inclusion is subject to him passing the fitness test. Overall, they have a decent pace bowling attack and they will be well complemented by their Fantastico all-rounder duo, Shane Watson and James Faulkner, who are masters of variations.
This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.
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