would have had the pace bowler no one likes to play if lasith malinga would have recovered from his knee injury chris gayle virat kohli shahid afridi martin guptill and ab de villiers have all regaled us with their magical brand of batsmanship sending the ball racing along the carpet or soaring into the stands england of course didnt even consider flying in james anderson and stuart broad their matchwinning fast bowling duo in test cricket for this champion ship with mitchell starc not in their ranks the aussies perhaps for the first time in many years lack the firepower with the new ball will the proteas give a chance to steyn to rediscover his art on these pitches there are a variety of reasons for this trend so the question is will the quality fast bowler come out of the shadows once the bigger games come calling there is only one mediumpacer paul van meekeren who finds a place in the top five wickettakers and if you ignore round 1 which largely comprised of associate nations pakistans mohammad sami with four wickets in two matches emerges as the most successful fast bowler just take a look at the bowling strategy of all the teams on show here this means the pitches become dry and slow due to excessive heat the windies have given the new ball to legspinner badree and rely majorly on dwayne bravos masterly variations which leave the opposition batsmen flummoxed most of the time watching dale steyn struggle on a placid pitch at wankhede south africa dropped one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time preferring the steady seam bowling of kyle abbott instead that brand of cricket must be reserved for another day another time the answer to all these questions unfortunately appears to be a big no at the moment