Ryno names his toughest batsman

Former Australia fast bowler Ryan Harris bowled to, and dismissed, the best batsmen of the modern era but he says towering Englishman Kevin Pietersen was the pick of the bunch.

Included among Harris’s 113 Test wickets are superstar batsmen Alastair Cook (the most, out eight times), Virat Kohli, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Kumar Sangakkara, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar. 

But Pietersen stands head and shoulders above those batting giants, in some cases quite literally, as the batsman Harris found the most difficult to dismiss.

"I have bowled to the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Faf du Plessis, AB de Villiers, Kevin Pietersen, they are all class batsmen," Harris told The Hindustan Times. 

"The job of bowlers is even harder due to flat wickets. 

"However, one has to have different plans for batsmen, which is why it is called a Test. 

"Pietersen was the toughest to bowl to as he was such a big guy. 

"One had to change a lot of different things when you had to bowl to him."

While he might have found Pietersen a tough nut to crack, Harris removed the star batsman five times in Test cricket, including twice at the SCG in 2014 in what turned out to be Pietersen's final Test.

Harris also identified the premier bowlers in the world and it’s no surprise the right-armer stuck solid with the current crop of Aussie pacemen.

"I find it hard to go past our bowlers, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc," Harris said.

"Starc is getting better. James Anderson is skillful. I love to see Dale Steyn bowl. Kagiso Rabada is fantastic. 

"Pat Cummins and James Pattinson are also magnificent. We could have a bowling attack with skill and pace."