Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Starc: Australia’s awesome bowling quartet transcending Test greatness

Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Starc: Australia’s awesome bowling quartet transcending Test greatness originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon became the first bowling quartet in Test history to pass 600 wickets together, reaching 602 in Durban.

• The four shared those wickets almost equally across 38 Tests, and Australia’s win rate rises noticeably whenever all of them play.

• South Africa were bowled out for 284 in the first innings at Kingsmead, with each member of the quartet taking at least two wickets.

Beyond McGrath & Warne: How Australia’s ‘Fab Four’ shattered world record to become the greatest bowling quartet ever

Transcending greatness is a rare thing in Test cricket, and Australia’s four-man attack has now done it in a way that no other bowling unit in the history of the game can claim.

In the first Test against South Africa at Kingsmead, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon pushed their combined tally beyond 600 wickets, and the number alone is commendable. 

The group deserves to be ranked among the finest ever assembled, even though they have rarely been given the credit that such a ranking demands.

The figure of 602 wickets came in the quartet’s 38th Test together, and it is a first for any bowling group in the format. The nearest rivals are some distance behind. England’s combination of Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes finished with around 430 wickets. 

South Africa’s group of Jacques Kallis, Makhaya Ntini, Nicky Boje and Shaun Pollock reached 341, and the West Indies foursome of Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Carl Hooper and Ian Bishop stopped at 297.

The most famous Australian unit of all, built around Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee, took 284 wickets in just 16 Tests together. That is a remarkable strike rate, but the shorter run says a great deal about how hard it is to keep four frontline bowlers fit at the same time. 

How many wickets have Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Starc taken together, and the share of each bowler?

The quartet has taken 602 wickets together, and the workload has been divided. 

Cummins leads with 158 wickets, followed closely by Starc on 155, Hazlewood on 150 and Lyon on 139. Their shares of the total work out at roughly 26 per cent, 26 per cent, 25 per cent and 23 per cent, which means no one has been carried by the others and no one has carried the others.

That balance is rooted in variety. Cummins hits the deck at high pace and attacks the off stump, Starc offers left-arm swing and the occasional lethal yorker, Hazlewood squeezes batters with a metronomic length, and Lyon provides bounce and overspin from the other end.

A batter who survives one challenge simply meets a different one in the next over, and that is why the pressure rarely lets up.

The first innings at Kingsmead offered a neat illustration. South Africa were dismissed for 284 in 78 overs, and nine of the ten wickets went to the quartet. Cummins was the best of them with 3 for 54, while Starc (2 for 63), Hazlewood (2 for 54) and Lyon (2 for 58) each chipped in with two. Lyon bowled the most overs, 22 in all, and kept the run rate down to 2.63, which kept the pressure building from the other end. 

Beau Webster picked up the remaining wicket, that of Anrich Nortje, but the pattern of the innings was familiar. Aiden Markram made 37 and David Bedingham 49, yet neither could kick on, and Simon Harmer’s unbeaten 35 was the only late resistance of note.

Wiaan Mulder fell to a catch at Cooper Connolly off Cummins, and Marco Jansen’s quick 26 ended when Hazlewood had him caught by Travis Head. Cummins also removed Tristan Stubbs, so the wickets were spread across the order as much as across the bowlers.

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What is Australia’s win rate when Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Starc play together?

Many supporters assume that this attack has played together without a break for a decade, but the facts tell another story. Since Lyon’s debut in August 2011, Australia have played 154 Tests, and the four have lined up together in just 38 of them, which is about 24.7 per cent of the total.

In the other 116 matches, at least one of them was missing because of injuries, including Cummins’ early back stress fractures and Hazlewood’s recurring side strains, or because conditions called for extra spin or an all-rounder.

This is why the milestone should be treated as an achievement of durability as well as skill. Keeping four bowlers of this workload fit in the same Test is far harder than it sounds, and most great attacks in history have been broken up long before they reached such a number.

When one or more of the four have been absent, Australia have won around 53.8 per cent of their Tests and lost 29.1 per cent. With all four on the field, the win rate climbs to 62.2 per cent, losses dip slightly to 27 per cent, and draws drop sharply from 17.1 per cent to 10.8 per cent.

The fall in draws is the most telling figure, because it suggests that this attack can bowl sides out twice on almost any surface. A team that can take 20 wickets regularly rarely needs to settle for a stalemate.

Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Starc: Career Test record breakdown

The group’s longevity should count in its favour rather than against it. The average age of the unit is no longer young, yet the four continue to take wickets at a rate that most rivals cannot match, and each has remained effective in a different way.

Australia should therefore plan carefully to keep them fresh, because the evidence suggests that the team is at its best when all four bowlers are in the XI. If that happens, the 600 mark will be remembered as a stepping stone, and it will not be long before the record moves further out of reach.

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