Australia’s fantastic four are close to breaking the record for the most wicket-taking quartet in Test cricket history, but they may not be the greatest.
The Australian team of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Nathan Lyon now have 390 Test wickets to their name, and they are on track to break the record during the current series against Pakistan. They are 26 wickets short of the best-performed quartet of England’s James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Ben Stokes, and Moeen Ali, who took 416 wickets between them.
Australian cricket has been fortunate to have four top-line performers born within a few years of each other. They command universal respect but may not necessarily strike fear into the hearts of opposition batters. Comparing Test cricket across different eras is difficult due to the changing number of games, the rise in professionalism, athleticism, and the growth in the number of countries participating.
The West Indies had one of the greatest bowling attacks in history from the late 1970s until the 1990s. Players such as Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Andy Roberts, and Colin Croft paved the way for a formidable team. Also, Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose, Courney Walsh, and Ian Bishop contributed greatly to the achievements of the West Indies.
Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie, and Brett Lee represented Australia in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Unfortunately, due to injuries and other circumstances, they only played 16 Tests together in the eight years their careers intersected.
The current Australian bowling brigade is poised to surpass their predecessors due to the fact that their careers aligned. However, this has led to a generation of bowlers not getting much of a look-in, as they have dominated the Test team as well as the ODI and T20 sides.
Despite the potential reduction in the number of Tests in the future, it’s unlikely that there will be a quartet as prolific as the current Australian bowling attack. It’s also almost certain that no quartet will ever be as good as the Windies’ or the Warne-McGrath-Gillespie-Lee partnership.