Three For Twelve

England won by 119 at the Rose Bowl, and the number that stays with me is not one of the batting ones.

Brook made 114 not out and Buttler 80, but Sonny Baker took three for twelve in four overs.

Four overs tells you almost nothing, and the next fortnight tells you everything.

I asked whether England should take Test cricket beyond the same seven grounds. A lot of you refused the question.

Not one of you wanted the small grounds protected from losing money. Ruthless.

People always ask who the best bowler was. That is an argument about records. This is the other question.

A great bowler can be a pleasure to bat against if you can see what he is doing. These five are the ones I could not see. Two will surprise you, one will start an argument, and my number one never got to finish his career.

Nobody Ever Picks Siddle

Peter Siddle got me out 10 times in Test cricket. Nobody else got close.

Brett Lee got me six. Murali got me six. Sidds got ten, and never once looked like the quickest man on the field.

He just kept arriving. Same spot, same heavy ball, and the longer the spell went the more it became about who blinked.

Ojha, And The Years Before Mumbai

For a stretch of my career the whole world thought it knew how to get me out. Left-arm spin, pitched at the stumps.

I will not pretend that came from nowhere. In Bangladesh in 2010 they were serving me spin with my cornflakes.

Ojha is the one, and it is the angle more than the man. Harbhajan and Ashwin bowled wide outside off at me, which carries far less risk. Ojha put ball after ball on the stumps. Different job entirely.

Then Mumbai, 2012. A pitch spinning like crazy, 186, and hours in the nets with Mushy beforehand.

After that innings I absolutely murdered left-arm spin. This list is about the years before it.

Which name are you most annoyed I left out?

Vote below. Results at the top of the next issue.

Ryno Was The Best Of Them

This is the one that starts arguments, because people expect an Australian here and expect the name to be McGrath.

Ryan Harris was the best Australian bowler I faced. Better than anyone.

His body kept taking the career off him, so availability is what people remember instead of the bowling. Every ball was aimed at something. No settling-in over, no loose one to wait for.

Johnson At The Gabba

The Johnson of 2013-14 was not the Johnson anybody had faced before. He had found himself, he knew what he had, and he knew we knew.

I have written before about sitting in that dressing room in Brisbane thinking I could die out there. Our tail were scared. I heard them say so.

Facing him was not just intimidation. It was a really high-grade emotional experience.

You could hook him. I mostly left as many as I could and got out of the way, because he came in three or four-over spells and the job was surviving them.

I Had No Idea Against Him

Twenty-three Tests. 103 wickets at 23, the last of them against us at Lord’s in 2010, and then it was gone.

Mohammad Asif is the best bowler I ever faced and it is not close.

I had no idea against him. Not that he got me out, but that I could not read what was happening. He made the ball feel like it was accelerating off the wicket in different directions, and you cannot play that kind of movement because it happens so late.

And it did not stop when the over did.

In form, he made sure I was not in form a fortnight later. Out of form, he made sure I knew it for the rest of the series. He only got me a handful of times. He did not need to. He pinned me down so thoroughly that I gave my wicket away at the other end.

The Four You Expected

Warne. Best fun in cricket, because you could see the contest. Hardest is not the same as greatest.

Murali. Six dismissals, so a better claim than most. But I wanted to face him, and wanting it is the opposite of dreading it.

McGrath. Relentless, and you knew exactly what was coming. Knowing is worth a lot.

Steyn. Could easily have been in my top five: the ultimate competitor, lightning quick and you always knew you were in a battle with him. Huge admiration and respect for his craft and how hard he worked at his game.

If you haven’t voted on the name I left out, scroll back up.

See you in a fortnight.

Kevin Pietersen

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