Last Updated on 9 months by Charbel Coorey
Cricket News: Most wickets by Australia fast bowlers: Where does Pat Cummins rank? | Pat Cummins Test strike rate
Australia has a rich history of producing high quality fast bowlers. Two of the very best in history – Dennis Lillee and Glenn McGrath – greaced Test cricket from the 1970s through to the 2000s, with numerous others making a mark in the country’s proud cricketing story.
Including Lillee and McGrath, five Australian fast bowlers have taken more than 300 Test wickets. There is one bowler – Pat Cummins – who is set to join them, with his numbers putting him among the greatest pacers Australia has ever produced.
Most wickets by Australia fast bowlers
| Bowler | Wickets | Average | Strike rate |
| Glenn McGrath | 561 | 21.64 | 51.95 |
| Dennis Lillee | 355 | 23.92 | 52.01 |
| Mitchell Starc | 344 | 27.55 | 48.60 |
| Mitchell Johnson | 313 | 28.40 | 51.12 |
| Brett Lee | 310 | 30.81 | 53.32 |
| Craig McDermott | 291 | 28.63 | 56.99 |
| Pat Cummins | 256 | 22.10 | 46.30 |
| Graham McKenzie | 246 | 29.78 | 71.87 |
| Josh Hazlewood | 245 | 26.22 | 56.16 |
| Ray Lindwall | 228 | 23.03 | 59.86 |
Pat Cummins, as of January 3 2024, has the best strike rate among any Australia fast bowler with at least 250 Test wickets. In fact, only John James Ferris (48 wickets, strike rate 42.29), Frederick Spofforth (94 wickets, strike rate 44.52) and John Victor Saunders (79 wickets, strike rate 45.12) have better strike rates than Cummins among all Australians who have played Test cricket.
However, both Ferris (1887-1890) and Spofforth (1877-1887) played in the 1800s. Saunders played in the first decade of the 1900s (1902-1908). So, Cummins has the best strike rate of any Australian bowler since 1909. Remarkable.
There is certainly an argument that Cummins is Australia’s third-best fast bowler of all-time behind McGrath and Lillee, especially among the top ten wicket-takers as fantastic as they all were and are. Cummins’ current average of 22.25 sits him in the middle of McGrath (21.64) and Lillee (23.92), and he is showing no signs of slowing down.
In terms of Test opponents, Cummins averages below 30 against every team he’s played against. He also averages under 30 in every country he’s played in except India (four Tests, 11 wickets, avg. 32.81) and Sri Lanka (two Tests, two wickets, avg. 60.00). One remarkable performance in Cummins’ career was his 2022 display on some of the flattest pitches in recent memory in Pakistan, where he finished with 12 wickets in three Tests at an average of 22.50.
Pat Cummins’ Test numbers against all teams
| Opponent | Matches | Wickets | Average | Strike rate | Economy |
| Bangladesh | 2 | 6 | 29.00 | 63.0 | 2.76 |
| England | 19 | 91 | 24.10 | 45.7 | 3.16 |
| India | 13 | 50 | 26.18 | 54.0 | 2.90 |
| New Zealand | 3 | 12 | 18.75 | 50.8 | 2.21 |
| Pakistan | 8 | 36 | 19.75 | 44.1 | 2.68 |
| South Africa | 8 | 41 | 19.31 | 41.8 | 2.77 |
| Sri Lanka | 4 | 16 | 14.31 | 35.1 | 2.44 |
| West Indies | 1 | 3 | 11.33 | 40.6 | 1.67 |
Where Cummins sits in the history of Australia fast bowlers is up for debate. However, it’s clear that the team currently has one of the all-time greats in their ranks. His ability to bowl memorable deliveries and get the better of some of the world’s best batsmen has been a delight to watch, along with his relentless consistency.
He has also well and truly found his feet as captain, leading Australia to the 2023 World Test Championship and Cricket World Cup titles. One can only wonder where he’d be now given all those years he lost through injury after a memorable debut as an 18-year old against South Africa in 2011.
But, it will be a career well worth remembering regardless.
