ICC Cricket World Cup 2019: Five bowlers who will set the tournament on fire
With the most glorified cricket carnival of the world is precisely eight months away, all the cricketing nations are jostling for the best possible XI to compete at the highest level. Some are confident with the pool of players they have for the upcoming challenge whereas some are still in the hunt to unearth the talent who could bring an X-factor to the table. With every game passing, teams will be tightening up their loose screws and would like to replace the fasteners which are corroding quickly. A well-oiled car is always better than the one which guzzles a lot of diesel and still doesn’t give the desired mileage.
A bowler in the shorter format is best known for its striking ability i.e. how many balls does a bowler take to get a wicket whereas the average is how many runs on an average he gives before striking. The lesser the strike rate and average of a bowler the better the chances of his getting wickets. In a One-day game, a striking bowler is like a well-oiled machine and if he does well, then the team sleeps well. As far as we can remember, there had been some ferocious characters in the past we had witnessed like Joel Garner (Big Bird), Michael Holding, Sir Andy Roberts, Tony Gray from West-Indies, Dennis Lillee from Australia and Shane Bond from New-Zealand.
There will certainly be a few bowlers of such pedigree on show at the greatest stage of cricket. Five bowlers who are most likely to set ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 on fire are:
(Note: Bowlers selected in the list have played a minimum 40 One-day Internationals )
5. Josh Hazlewood, Australia, Average- 24.27, Strike Rate- 30.8, Economy- 4.72
Tall and accurate right-arm pacer who reminds the world of great Glenn McGrath whenever he strides to bowl. Following his idol’s footsteps, Hazlewood’s best weapon is his consistency with the line and length, which have fetched him the international call at the tender age of 19.
Josh has been among the star performers for Australia in the elite format of the game and has recently added another feature to his cap i.e. 150 test wickets. His abilities are not only limited to the longer format of the game, 4/35 against Pakistan in WC’15 quarter-final, 5/31 at Perth against Proteas and 6/52 in Champions Trophy against Blackcaps are some of the highlights of his career.
His expertise goes beyond handling the new ball, he bowls in middle over and he is good as well with the old ball. He may not be tearaway as the likes of Shaun Tait, Brett Lee or Shoaib Akhtar who could intimidate the batsman with the sheer pace but he is definitely an expert who could sail the boat across the strong winds and can lead the flock to the destination. It will be interesting to see Hazlewood complementing Mitchell Starc in the World Cup.