Ranking the best ODI bowling attacks in the world at present
The game of cricket has come leaps and bounds since its inception. The game today resembles a ‘hitting’ contest between two sets of batsmen with the bowlers enjoying a peripheral role.
However, even with them being on the periphery, the bowlers possess the knack of turning a match on its head. A lethal spell or an over comprising of two wickets has the power to tilt the game in their team’s favour. Thus, someone has rightly said, ‘Batting wins you matches, but bowling wins you tournaments.’
The role of the bowlers is assuming more importance with the batsmen of each side cancelling each other out. Each team boasts of their own destructive batsmen, which puts the onus on the bowlers to make the difference.
With the World Cup due to be held in England in eight months’ time, the team with the best bowling attack would fancy their chances of reigning supreme. Through the course of this article, we would analyse the bowling attacks that would turn up on English shores, come May 2019. Consequently, the bowling attacks have been ranked based on their adaptability to conditions and ability to turn matches in the blink of an eye.
Here are the best bowling attacks in the world.
#5 South Africa
South Africa recently won the ODI series in Sri Lanka by a 3-2 score-line. In their three victories, their bowling functioned admirably. However, their biggest worry is a lack of a wicket-taker in the middle overs.
In Sri Lanka, Tahir was rested and Shamsi was given a go instead. Though the latter impressed in patches, he wasn’t as consistent as the Proteas would’ve liked. Tahir, on the other hand, has been blowing hot and cold for a while. Though he is a match-winner on his day, those days have been far and few in between over the past couple of years.
Their fast bowling department is relatively well-stocked with the likes of Rabada, Ngidi, Phehlukwayo. In addition to the three, Mulder showed that he can provide a decent back-up while Steyn and Morris didn’t take part in the limited-overs leg.
South Africa’s stronger suit in the bowling department is certainly their pacers. However, they would like one of their spinners to hit top form in order to control games through the middle overs. A failure to do so would result in batsmen getting ‘set’, before unleashing in the death-overs.
If the Proteas harbour any hopes of quenching their thirst for a first World Cup, they need to start taking wickets in the middle phases, against top quality opposition. Thus, due to their shortcomings, they rank at No.5 on our list.