Will the WTC cap off the finest triumph for Messrs Starc, Cummins, Hazlewood & Lyon who have never won ICC Test silverware together?

Indian Express

17 hours ago

When the 22 players line up at Lord's next week for the third ICC World Test Championship final, the statistical lopsidedness hanging over the Australian and South African contingents will be hard to neglect. In all likelihood, it will spur a reflection on the sheer might of a legendary quartet that has carried Australia's vaunted bowling legacy with even greater spirits since the second half of the previous decade.
Despite their respective Test debuts in the early 2010s, it was not until late 2017 that Australia could tether the tenacious Mitchell Starc, the irrepressible Pat Cummins, a relentless Josh Hazlewood and 'GOAT' Nathan Lyon together. For a series of varying injuries, combinations and other reasons before and since their first initiation against England in the 2017 Ashes at the Gabba, it has only taken the Starc-Cummins-Hazlewood-Lyon union 32 Tests to forge arguably the most successful Test bowling attack of all time.
It will be hard to shrug off those astute accumulations – 522 wickets between them in only 32 of the 70 Tests Australia have played in the last eight years. Clocking an average of 16.22 wickets per match, the 'S.C.H.L' attack stands peerless on the four-bowler Test combinations, with the second-placed James Anderson-Stuart Broad-Ben Stokes-Moeen Ali quadruple amassing 424 wickets in 34 Tests across nine years at 12.74 wickets per game.
Matches together
Career overall
Wickets
Average
SR
Wickets
Average
SR
Pat Cummins
137
23.06
49.9
294
22.43
46.31
Mitchell Starc
129
28.95
51
382
27.57
48.52
Josh Hazlewood
128
22.14
50.2
279
24.57
53.1
Nathan Lyon
125
31.52
69.7
553
30.19
61.66
Wickets from their combined presence nearly match the South African WTC squad's total wicket-taking experience (690), polished heavily by Kagiso Rabada (327 wickets) in one half. The lack of English experience will also leave the Saffers bowling only a third in the strength of Test caps in the country, as opposed to the S.C.H.L, ahead of Australia and South Africa's first neutral Test fixture in 113 years since their Lord's meeting in 1912.
Despite the propensity of this four-man attack to champion contrasting conditions, Australia's S.C.H.L has had a limited presence outside their daunting home territory Down Under.
Interestingly, only twice before have Australia fielded all four modern greats together in England across 11 Tests since 2019, picking up 34 wickets at a strike rate of 56.0.
Over 77 percent (400) of the Starc-Cummins-Hazlewood-Lyon combine's wickets have come in 24 home Tests, 15 of which have fashioned outright Australian victories. Despite their assertive role in the conditioning of Australia's bowling wheel for a considerable period, the quartet has missed out on collective ICC Test silverware.
The next WTC cycle, starting immediately after the upcoming Lord's finale, will probably be the final edition where Australia will have the advantage of their own 'Fab 4' in the roster. While they have appeared in multiple 'threes' in the past, the S.C.H.L. is yet to win either the ICC Test mace or the WTC crown, for Hazlewood missed out on the 2023 final win over India at the Oval due to injury.
The capricious London skies and the dark Dukes ball will beckon more load from the pace trio of the Oz order next week. While Lyon's nagging presence will keep him in the game at any given point, skipper Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood will be the vicious prongs the Proteas would not necessarily savour.
Starc-Cummins-Hazlewood-Lyon attack
Matches
Wickets
Average
SR
In Australia
24
400
25.18
53.8
In England
2
34
26.42
56.1
Overall
32
519
26.33
55.0
In the four Tests the trio have played without Lyon in England, Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood have totalled 53 wickets, averaging 30 with a dismissal every 46 deliveries.
Potentially heading into their 35th Test, the Starc-Hazlewood-Cummins trio remains Australia's most prolific pace attack and joint-fifth on the wicket-taking charts among all pace Test trios ever. Snaring 12.23 wickets per appearance, the all-encompassing triumvirate stands only behind New Zealand's Trent Boult-Tim Southee-Neil Wagner (13.38 wkts/match) and the fiery yesteryear Windies club of Joel Garner, Michael Holding and Malcolm Marshall, who reeled in 331 wickets in 26 Tests at 12.73.
A Scott Boland challenge awaits Hazlewood in the race to make the XI at Lord's next week. But for four of Australia's bulwarks, an enticing chance of collective glory awaits at the home of cricket, nevertheless. Will the S.C.H.L school Temba Bavuma and Co. on the way to defend their status at the top of the championship, or will the underdog South African attack upset the Aussie applecart at the home of cricket?
Lalith Kalidas is a Senior Sub-Editor with the sports team of The Indian Express. Working with the online sports desk, Lalith specializes in the happenings on the cricket field, with a particular interest in India's domestic cricket circle. He also carries an affinity towards data-driven stories and often weaves them into cricketing contexts through his analysis. Lalith also writes the weekly stats-based cricket column - 'Stats Corner'. A former cricketer who has played in state-level tournaments in Kerala, he has over three years of experience as a sports journalist. Lalith also covered the 2023 ODI World Cup held in India. ... Read More