Top 5 ODI teams with best pace attacks ahead of 2019 Cricket World Cup
With the 2019 Cricket World Cup just under a year away, all the One-day teams who have made the cut would now be looking to fine-tune their squads for choosing their best players for the showpiece event.
With the World Cup being held in England, the teams would look to bolster their pace attack so that they are ready to bombard their opponents with pace and swing on seam friendly tracks. England is considered a paradise for fast bowlers and the teams would be looking to get the right balance in their pace attack so as to have the cutting edge in their bowling arsenal.
We take a look at the one-day teams which possess the most lethal seam attacks heading into the 2019 ICC World Cup at England.
For selecting my Top 5 teams, i have taken the ODI records of the top 5 fast bowlers for each nation post the 2015 ICC World Cup.The period taken into consideration is Apr 2015 - Jun 2018
For ranking the team's from 1 to 5, i have considered wicket taking ability of the pacers, depth in pace attack and economy rate as the main parameters.
#1 Australia
Australia always had a potent seam attack and their current ODI team has a bagful of seamers. The Aussies are spearheaded by left arm seamer Mitchell Starc who is an outright strike bowler. Starc has been sensational in ODIs making regular inroads into the opposition batting with his deadly inswinging deliveries. Starc has formed a handy new ball pair with the tall and lanky Josh Hazelwood. Hazelwood is more in the Glen McGrath mode, relying on his accuracy in line and length. He gets the ball to seam from the right areas to trouble the best batsman.
Australia also have speedster Pat Cummins who can hurry up batsmen with his brisk pace. Cummins bowls in the high 140 kmph mark and gets the ball to swing away on a consistent basis. The Australians have good bench strength in the form of James Pattinson, Kane Richardson and Nathan Coulter Nile who all have been quite successful in the ODI arena.
The seam attack also has James Faulkner who can deceive the batsman with his subtle variations. The Baggy Greens also have medium pacers like Mitchell Marsh and Marcus Stoinis who will be effective in the seam friendly pitches in England.
Australian Seamers - ODI Record (Apr 2015 - Jun 2018)
Mitchell Starc - Matches 31 Wickets 58 Avg 24.68 Eco 5.19
Jos Hazelwood - Matches 28 Wickets 50 Avg 24.6 Eco 4.80
Pat Cummins - Matches 27 Wickets 45 Avg. 27.64 Eco 5.16
James Faulkner - Matches 25 Wickets 36 Avg 31.86 Eco 5.55
Mitchell Marsh - Matches 36 Wickets 33 Avg 36.51 Eco 5.64
Note - I haven't taken John Hastings record into consideration as he has retired from international cricket.