The Ashes 2013: Top 5 bowlers to watch out for

The delight of viewing an Ashes series is majorly constituted by the delight of watching quality fast bowling on surfaces that offer assistance. This year will be no different. England have the best bowling attack in the world at the moment.

James Anderson is arguably the best bowler in the world who has improved by leaps and bounds over the last few years and is now the master of many arts. He will be given quality support by Stuart Broad and Steven Finn who bowl at the high end of the speed spectrum and extract that bit extra from the pitch in terms of bounce and seam movement.

They will be up against a resilient Australian batting line-up that might not have the stellar batsmen of yesteryears – the likes of Hayden, Langer, Ponting, Gilchrist – but Shane Watson and Michael Clarke will offer more than a fight.

The Australian bowling line-up, on the other hand, is inexperienced but promising. The factor of novelty might actually turn out to be an advantage as James Pattinson and Mitchell Starc have improved as bowlers in the turmoil that Australian cricket has gone through in the last one year.

Adversity often brings out the best from competitive players and the Australians are hardly ever short of that quality. They do lack in the spin department as Graeme Swann is likely to trump Nathan Lyon in that battle. However, if Australia want to pose a serious challenge to the English, that challenge has to emerge from the bowling attack.

Here is a list of five bowlers to watch out for at the Ashes this year:

5. Stuart Broad

The right-handed fast bowler lead England to victory against New Zealand at Lords with a spell during which he exhibited the spark that all England fans will be hoping to see at the Ashes. Broad is largely a bowler who needs to get his rhythm right. The day he manages to do that, he is really good. Otherwise, he can be pedestrian.

He delivers the ball from a good height and when the pitch offers a little assistance he can test the batsman by testing him in the corridor of uncertainty. His career has been marked by frequent crests and troughs but he has become relatively consistent over the last two years claiming 91 wickets at just over 26 and has four five wicket hauls in the past year.