We continue our countdown of the best Test bowling performances on Australian soil since 2000
Top 20 in 2020: The best Test bowling, 17-15
We've already counted down the 20 best Test moments and 20 best Test batting performances so far this century, and now it’s the turn of the bowlers!
The same criteria applies; performances have to be from Test matches since 2000 on Australian soil, with extra weight given to those that have come in famous victories for a bowler's team.
Before you get into this countdown, make sure you take a look at our Top 20 batting and Top 20 moments from earlier this year.
Re-live the countdown in full: 20-18 | 17-15 | 14-12 | 11-9 | 8-6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1
17) Mohammad Asif, 6-41
Pakistan v Australia, Sydney, 2010
Image Id: 3B41AA99085C470E859972B6E32A0388By Martin Smith
It's unlikely that history will be kind to Mohammad Asif.
Convicted of corruption offences in 2010, the Pakistani bowler copped a seven-year ban from international cricket and was also jailed in Britain for his role in a scandal that rocked the world of cricket.
The controversy is an intrinsic part of his cricketing story. But another truism is the fact that, on his day, he was one of the best seam and swing bowlers the modern game has seen.
In fact, former England captain Kevin Pietersen says he's the best he ever faced.
Asif was an old-school Test bowler; not overly quick or aggressive, he took 106 Test wickets thanks primarily to an ability to bend the ball seemingly to his will, mostly away in the air or back in off the seam.
And sometimes, as Michael Clarke discovered on the opening day of the 2010 SCG Test, he could do both at once.
Image Id: 8B1C1ED990A940D39ABBF5FCFF06FD73Early Sydney rain led to a delayed start to the first Test of the new year but recalled Pakistan quick Mohammad Sami wasted no time when play finally got underway after 2pm, ripping out three Australian wickets before the first drinks break.
One of the trio was skipper Ricky Ponting, caught hooking from the first ball he faced, who had earlier ignored the overhead cloud and tinge of green on the pitch in electing to bat first.
With the score at 3-10 after Sami's early burst, that decision seemed questionable. After Asif was done, it looked plain wrong.
Asif started his rout with the ball of the summer to remove Clarke; what appeared to be an out-swinger that landed perfectly in line with off-stump suddenly and prodigiously seamed the other way, evading the Australian's bat and pad and cannoning into the top of middle stump.
And when Asif removed Michael Hussey and Marcus North in consecutive deliveries to finish his ninth over, an early Australian wobble had become a full-blown collapse.
A face-saving partnership from Mitchell Johnson and Nathan Hauritz at least pushed the hosts into triple figures, before Asif returned to grab three more wickets – including another delightful in-ducker to bowl Hauritz – and finish with a career-best haul of 6-41.
The remainder of that Test match, like Asif's legacy, is complicated. After securing a 206-run lead on the first innings, Pakistan inexplicably capitulated in a mess of dropped catches and questionable field placings as Australia routed the tourists for just 139 on the final day to secure a memorable come-from-behind win.
Image Id: 4CBDA620963B4D45B366DCFB8927CAD7Eight months later, Asif’s world came crashing down when a newspaper sting implicated him and two teammates in a spot-fixing scandal in England, while senior Pakistan officials later told an inquiry they held suspicions that the SCG Test was also tainted.
For all his brilliance with ball in hand, it's a chapter of the Mohammad Asif story that he's unable to erase.
16) Peter Siddle, 6-54
Australia v England, Brisbane, 2010
Image Id: 153993586C0D489AB7EFAA35B61E8B39By Martin Smith
If the critics had had their way, one of the most memorable Ashes moments this century would never have happened.
As Australian cricket lauded Peter Siddle's very special birthday on the evening of November 25, 2010, it was all but forgotten that just 24 hours earlier, the knives had been out.
The decision to pick Siddle ahead of Doug Bollinger for the opening Test of the summer had been met with fierce criticism in some quarters, with former Test batsman Damien Martyn labelling the omission of Bollinger a "terrible decision" after the left-armer had led Australia's attack for much of the year.
A serious back injury had sidelined Siddle for most of 2010, with Bollinger stepping in and taking 22 wickets in five Tests against New Zealand, Pakistan and India. But a stomach injury suffered by the left-armer just six weeks before the Ashes began, and the subsequent lack of match practice leading into the summer, saw selectors revert to Siddle at the Gabba.
In a series that would see the Australians cop no shortage of criticism as they surrendered the Ashes at home for the first time in a quarter of a century, this decision was justified in spectacular fashion.
Twice on the opening day of the first Test, it was Siddle who dragged England back just as they started to assert their dominance.
With the tourists looking solid at 2-117 after lunch, Siddle started his second spell by getting some away movement to find the edge of Kevin Pietersen (after a 76-run stand with Alastair Cook) and Paul Collingwood in consecutive overs, the major surprise being the Victorian didn't get more than a four-over spell to potentially strike again.
Image Id: 9996EE0967FC40629B5701F9DE32B4DFBut his day was far from over.
The start of his third spell was just like his second; again, England were in the middle of a handy partnership that threatened to take the game away from the Australians. And again, it was Siddle who turned the match on its head.
The progression of his second over in that spell hardly needs repeating, so often has it been replayed in the 10 years since. A perfect length angled across Cook to find the edge, a fuller ball that knocked over Matt Prior's off stump, and another full ball that found Stuart Broad's pad as the sold-out Gabba crowd – and Mark Taylor in the commentary box – found their voice.
Siddle had four slips, a gully and a point for his hat-trick ball but didn’t need any of them, although he later conceded a full in-swinger was not exactly the ball he was dreaming of as he stood at the top of his mark.
"I'd like to say it was the plan, but I was looking to hit the top of off," he said.
"To get him on the full with a bit of shape was a dream ball. I'll definitely remember it for a long time."
A place in history secure, Siddle wasn't finished yet. He added the wicket of Graeme Swann to make it four scalps in 12 balls and he would have had a fifth victim in the spell – and his seventh in total – had Brad Haddin not grassed a tough chance off James Anderson three balls later.
Instead, he had to be content with career-best figures of 6-54, just the ninth hat-trick in Ashes history and the best birthday present a cricketer could ask for.
15) Rene Farrell, 5-23
Australia v England, Sydney, 2011
Image Id: C256FD50981D427F9A67BD2A09F948F1By Sam Ferris
Peter Siddle may well lay claim to the most well-known of the two Ashes hat-tricks that were taken in the 2010-11 season, but Rene Farrell's match-changing spell and all-time celebration in the last Test of that summer were at least the equal of Siddle's famous birthday heroics in the first.
And given Farrell's performance guided Australia to an Ashes-clinching win, it was perhaps the more valuable of the two.
Collapsed on her knees, arms pumped, fists clenched, eyes wild with adrenaline and swamped by her teammates, the image of Farrell moments after trapping England's Dani Hazell lbw to secure the hat-trick is what cricket is all about.
The one-off Women's Ashes Test at Sydney's Bankstown Oval was a slow-going affair with England in the ascendancy by 57 runs and with all 10 second-innings wickets in hand at stumps on day two of the four-day match.
But in the space of five balls after lunch the following day, Farrell turned the match with a stunning display of swing bowling, which concluded with just the second Women's Ashes hat-trick after Betty Wilson's in 1958.
England, needing only a draw to retain the Ashes, wobbled early to be 3-35 but steadied through captain Charlotte Edwards and Jenny Gunn before Farrell completely altered the course of the game.
The right-armer had right-hander Gunn caught by Jess Cameron at first slip with the penultimate ball of the 52nd over to leave the visitors 4-92.
Image Id: 94044F84BBE742EE814E9DD5DF71C75CWith the first delivery of her next over, Farrell removed the other set batter, Edwards, who played around a straight one to leave former Australia fast bowler-turned-umpire Paul Wilson no choice but to raise his right index finger and send the England captain on her way.
Katherine Brunt, a powerful stroke player, could not resist having a swing at a wide half-volley first ball but managed only to drag the delivery back on her stumps, sending the Australians wild and putting Farrell on a hat-trick.
Australia captain Alex Blackwell, sensing the occasion, surrounded Hazell; two close-in catchers on the leg side, a mid-off, a short cover and a ring in the cordon.
Just like she had two balls before, Farrell fired in a full delivery at the stumps that thudded into the front left pad of the batter and was followed by a frenzy of appeals from every Australian player on the field.
Image Id: DAE41EB629824F10A4885D2C64596190Hazell pointed to her bat to indicate an inside edge, but it was too late. Wilson raised his finger for the second time in three balls as Farrell pirouetted on the spot in jubilation, falling to the ground as she was mobbed by her ecstatic companions.
She finished with 5-23 from 17 overs as England were bowled out for 149, leaving the Aussies 198 to win, which they chased down in 92 overs with seven wickets in hand to regain the Ashes.
"Picking up five wickets is a dream in a Test match," Farrell said in the wake of victory.
"But to also get a hat-trick … I was lucky enough to get the first one lb and then (Brunt) played on to her stumps.
"Then the girls were like, "What are you thinking on the hat-trick ball?"
"It just came back to one ball at a time. I was quite calm at the beginning of my run up and it came out really well and I was lucky enough to get the lb."
Top 20 in 2020: Best Test bowling
20) James Pattinson v New Zealand, Brisbane, 2011
19) Glenn McGrath v England, Brisbane, 2006
18) Anil Kumble v Australia, Sydney, 2004
17) Mohammad Asif v Australia, Sydney, 2010
16) Peter Siddle v England, Brisbane, 2010
15) Rene Farrell v England, Sydney, 2011
14) Glenn McGrath v Pakistan, Perth, 2004
13) Jasprit Bumrah v Australia, Melbourne, 2018
12) Michael Clarke v India, Sydney, 2008
11) Mitchell Johnson v South Africa, Perth, 2008
10) Vernon Philander v Australia, Hobart, 2016
9) Glenn McGrath v West Indies, Brisbane, 2000
8) Mitchell Johnson v England, Perth, 2010
7) Doug Bracewell v Australia, Hobart, 2011
6) Ajit Agarkar v Australia, Adelaide, 2003
5) Mitchell Johnson v England, Brisbane, 2013
4) Shane Warne v England, Adelaide, 2006
3) Dale Steyn v Australia, Melbourne, 2008
2) Nathan Lyon v India, Adelaide, 2014
1) Mitchell Johnson v England, Adelaide, 2013