Jason Gillespie: Australia’s fast bowling quartet ‘as good as ever’
Australian legend Jason Gillespie believes Australia’s fast bowling group is as good as we’ve ever had.
The quartet of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and James Pattinson were instrumental in Australia’s clean sweep over the summer against Pakistan and New Zealand.
All four pacemen with the exception of Pattinson (81) have taken over 100 Test wickets and have a career average of under 27 and strike rate of less than 57.
Gillespie who played in a golden era of fast bowlers alongside Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath told The Cricket Show Australia are in a great position when it comes to their fast bowling stocks.
“I think they’re as good a bowling group as we’ve ever produced,” Gillespie said.
“The reason I say that is if you look at their strike rates, for me strike rate is a really good way of judging the value of a bowler, particularly fast bowlers, these guys are all either mid-40s or low-50s and that’s quite incredible.
“If you stack that up with some of the greats of the game, these guys certainly hold their own.
“We never really like declaring eras, (but) we’ve got to celebrate that we’ve got four absolutely wonderful fast bowlers that Australia has.
“It’s not too often that a country’s so blessed with a quality group of quicks and it’s great for Justin Langer and Tim Paine to be able to rely on these guys, particularly in Test cricket.”
Gillespie played 71 Tests and took 259 wickets at an average of 26.13.
The 44-year-old also famously scored an unbeaten 201 against Bangladesh batting as a night-watchman in 2006.
He is also the head coach of the Adelaide Strikers who are currently third on the Big Bash League ladder.
Click ‘play’ to hear the full interview below.
Hamish Blair/Getty Images.