Boof looks to new bowlers for NZ

As he enters a five-match ODI Series against India with a new-look squad, Australia coach Darren Lehmann has foreshadowed that the Test bowling attack that he takes to New Zealand might carry a similarly unfamiliar feel.

In the wake of Australia’s 2-0 win over the West Indies in the Frank Worrell Trophy Series completed yesterday, Lehmann identified a comparative lack of penetration by his new-ball bowlers as one of the few elements of mild concern to emerge from the team’s dominant campaign.

He cited an inability to make multiple early inroads into the West Indies’ under-performing batting line-up once strike bowler Mitchell Starc was ruled out due to foot and ankle surgery as a shortcoming that will need to be addressed ahead of the two-match Test tour of NZ next month.

"I’d like our new-ball bowling to improve," Lehmann told cricket.com.au's Stumps show at the conclusion of the rain-ruined third Test at the SCG yesterday.

"I think we bowled well without knocking over two or three early wickets and in the last three innings they (the West Indies) averaged close to 100 overs with the bat.

"And we’ve got to make sure we’re knocking over the top order a bit better than that." 

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Black Caps’ batters the likes of Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill will present a far sterner challenge in their home conditions than did Marlon Samuels (series average 7.0), Jermaine Blackwood (11.60) and Denesh Ramdin (26.60).

Australia’s hopes of wresting the world No.1 Test ranking from South Africa are dependent on them winning the two-Test series across the Tasman.

As well as England doing their bit by maintaining or improving on the 1-0 series lead they currently hold halfway through their four-Test  battle with the Proteas.

And the pace bowlers who have performed best in Tests against the home team in New Zealand over the past decade are those more likely to gain movement through the air and off the pitch rather than rely on brute speed to blast out the opposition.

Bowlers such as South Africa’s Vernon Philander (17 wickets at 12.76 over that decade), England’s Ryan Sidebottom (24 at 17.08) and disgraced former Pakistan quick Mohammad Asif (19 at 19.79) have proved more effective than the likes of Mitchell Johnson, Morne Morkel and Steve Finn.

Bowlers who like to bang it into the surface. 

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Which means a bowler like Western Australian seamer Jason Behrendorff might come into calculations for the NZ touring party, not only because he can swing the ball at pace but provides a point of difference as a left-armer.

Something which, along with his raw pace, was notably absent from Australia’s Test attack when Starc sustained a stress fracture in his left foot during the final Test against New Zealand and opted to use that injury setback to undergo some overdue ankle surgery.

Lehmann indicated that the preference for ‘velocity’ on traditionally flat, bouncy Australian pitches, and which led to uncapped Victorian Scott Boland being added to the Test squad for the West Indies series, won’t be such a vital factor in choosing quicks for New Zealand. 

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Which might also open the door for bowlers such as Tasmania’s Jackson Bird, South Australia’s Joe Mennie and Behrendorff’s young WA teammate Joel Paris (included in the squad for the upcoming VB ODI series against India) given they don’t strictly fit the ‘velocity’ criterion.

"We certainly missed that extra pace knocking over the tail and the way he swings the ball and really hits the pegs against the tailenders is important," Lehmann told ABC Radio yesterday, in confirming that Starc would walk straight back into the team once he is fully fit, which will be after the NZ tour.

"The pace thing, for me, is really important when you're talking (about being able to dismiss) batsmen number seven (though to) number eleven.

"We've missed that in this series, but more so on Australian wickets (it is important).

"I think New Zealand will be different, where it moves around a little bit.

"Pace is not the biggest thing for us. It's actually good control and (putting) the ball in the right areas.

"It's about getting the right attack for New Zealand first and foremost.

"That might be a totally different attack than our 'normal' attack, if you like." 

WATCH: Boland takes two in two and then this...

Lehmann said the enforced absence of Starc, Nathan Coulter-Nile (shoulder) and Pat Cummins (back), along with the ankle problems that ruled Peter Siddle out of the New Year Test and recent retirements of Johnson and Ryan Harris meant there are opportunities aplenty.

And while the five-match ODI Series that begins in Perth on Tuesday and will be followed by three T20 Internationals against India, the form displayed by aspiring Test bowlers such as Boland, Paris and Kane Richardson will help to inform selection for more than the upcoming World T20 tournament that begins in India in March.

"With our injures (to pace bowlers) we’ve got to look at some players anyway," Lehmann said.

"So this gives us a chance to do both this time, and very rarely do we get a chance to do that.

"We’re pretty close (to settling on a squad for the World T20) but there are still performances in the Big Bash League that will come into play.

"And obviously our three T20s against India at the back-end of the one-day series will be important for us.

"But we’ve got a pretty important one-day series and then we’ve got a very important Test against New Zealand (before then)."