 The fast bowling department of most teams around the world is continuously getting
eroded due to the perpetual injuries that the leading men find themselves inflicted
with. With four bilateral series going on in parallel, there is not a single series
which does not have its own share of fast bowling injury woes, and this essentially
has meant that almost second string bowling attacks have had to take field.
In the India - Sri Lanka series, the visitors have already lost their
top two pace bowlers in Dammika Prasad and Thilan Thushara. Thushara
did not play a single game and took the flight back home whereas Prasad hobbled
off in the middle of the first match and did not get fit enough for the rest
of the games. India does not have any such injuries, but Ishant Sharma
is already looking jaded and was dropped due to that.
Then there is a series between England and South Africa, which has only seen
two T20Is and three ODIs been played and already James Anderson and Stuart Broad
have had their issues with injuries. If that is not enough, Dale Steyn
is struggling with his fitness as well, and may not play in the final game of
the series so that he can be fit for the test match series that follows.
Australia had already lost Brett Lee to an elbow injury in India, and
that was followed by the likes of James Hopes and Moises Henriques. One test
match later against West Indies, Australia's best bowler in the Brisbane test
match, Ben Hilfenhaus is out of the second game. West Indies have not fared
too much better, as they have already lost Jerome Taylor to a hip injury
and with no signs of Fidel Edwrds, it does look like a second string attack
that they are fielding for now.
New Zealand did win the first game of the series at Dunedin, but the victory
seems to have come at a cost. For starters, Shane Bond, who captured
eight wickets in the game was diagnosed with an abdominal strain and was ruled
out for the rest of the series. Apart from that, Iain O'Brien has had a broken
finger, and it will be a wonder if manages to play the second test match, ensuring
that there will be two new bowlers in the line-up.
Life has definitely become a struggle for most quick bowlers these days it
seems!
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