Australia's four pronged pace attack takes shape, James Pattinson suffers setback

Australia, in the recent times, has suffered due to the fragility of fitness in the pace attack. As a result, it is seldom seen that the four-pronged pace attack of Pat Cummins, James Pattinson, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc operating in tandem.

According to a recent interview, Australia’s fast bowling coach, David Saker, recently stated that their spearhead Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood are currently recuperating well with their respective injuries in order to feature in the Magellan Ashes series starting late November.

That said, it is Pattinson’s back inflammation which has caused problems for the management of Cricket Australia. Pattinson pulled out of the Bangladesh tour and the initial stages of the JLT Cup as a precautionary measure for his injury.

“Three of them we know are on track, but James Pattinson’s had a little bit of a setback. We’re not sure how bad (Pattinson’s injury is) at the moment. Josh Hazlewood is on track to play the first Test, Mitchell Starc is going really well and Patty is obviously flying. He’s going to have a bit of a rest and then the heat up into Shield cricket,” quoted Australia’s stand-in coach David Saker, according to Cricket.com.au.

Behrendorff and Sayers have their noses ahead of Coulter-Nile: Richardson

“I think it’s really good for the whole Australian team that they’ve got three Shield games. Whether the fast bowlers play all three of those, we’ll wait and see,” Saker added further. Australia is blessed to have reserves eagerly waiting for their opportunity for grabbing their baggy greens. The likes of Kane Richardson and Nathan Coulter-Nile have been impressive in the ongoing series against India.

“He’s (Coulter-Nile) pushing his case for higher honours in Test cricket this year, I think. If there’s any injuries or you’re resting and rotating, he’s probably the next one in. When you sat down a month ago and thought about the Ashes, you probably wouldn’t think of him being next in. (Jason) Behrendorff and (Chadd) Sayers and those kinds of guys are probably at the top of your mind and you forget about him because he hasn’t played,” commented Kane Richardson on Nathan Coulter-Nile’s chances of featuring in the Ashes.