Ashes 2013: Top five bowlers
The Ashes 2013 season has recently concluded with the English sweeping the series 3-0. One of the main reasons for the way the Kangaroos were thrashed was the impeccable success of the English bowling spearheads Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann. Even for the Aussies, the bowling department did bring some respite in the form of Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle. Here’s having a look at the top 5 bowlers in the 2013 Ashes:
1. Ryan Harris
If there were any moments when the Aussies were able to give a tough fight to the hosts, then they were all because of this man. Ryan Harris was arguably the best bowler in the series with 24 wickets in just 8 innings at a fabulous average of 19.58 which won him the Australian man of the series award, one of the meagre positives for Australia. He was not included in the eleven for the first test. He, then replaced left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc in the next game at Lord’s where he got a crucial 5 wicket haul in the first innings and ended up with 7 wickets in the match. His best came at Chester-le-Street, where he absolutely rattled the strong English batting line up with 7 wickets in the 2nd innings. However, his performance was overshadowed as Stuart Broad ended up getting 11 wickets in the match to guide England to victory. Though he is at number 2 on the list of highest wicket takers in the series behind Graeme Swann, who took 10 innings to achieve the feat, the contribution of Ryan Harris to Australia’s cause was sensational. He was, more or less, the lone fighter for the tourists.