’FEARSOME FOURSOME’ READY FOR ACTION
Aussie quartet fit to play against Kiwis today
LONDON cricket.
“I now feel that because I’m a couple of years older, and because I had a full off-season at pretty low intensity, my body was a bit more hardened than it used to be when I did come back,” Cummins explained.
Left-arm fast bowler Starc, arguably the world’s leading ‘yorker’ bowler, has recovered from a foot injury that cut short his tour of India, while Pattinson has returned from shin and back problems.
The original 1970s West Indies ‘fearsome foursome’ of Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Colin Croft and Joel Garner paved the way for a succession of Caribbean pace attacks that dominated world cricket for some 20 years.
Now Australia hope they have a potent quartet of their own, with coach Darren Lehmann saying: “It would be great to see them go at it and see how they go.”
Australia also boast one of the most powerful top orders in ODI cricket, with captain Steve Smith and opener David Warner outstanding batsmen in all formats.
They could add extra firepower by including Chris Lynn, who shot to worldwide prominence earlier this year with a sensational Indian Premier League campaign, averaging nearly 50 for the Kolkata Knight Riders.
New Zealand beat Australia in a thrilling pool match in Auckland at the 2015 World Cup only to lose to their trans-Tasman rivals in the final in Melbourne.
Today’s encounter at Birmingham’s Edgbaston ground is set to feature several survivors, with New Zealand captain Kane Williamson having cemented his place as one of the world’s best batsmen in the intervening two years.
Blacks pacemen Tim Southee and Trent Boult are proven performers in England, but Southee said: “We know the conditions, but you can’t rely on that.
“The wickets over here are pretty good, and the bowlers are going to have to be at the very top of their game as a result.” AFP