Brett Lee declares Pat Cummins-led attack as Australia’s greatest ever

Australia’s bowling attack is currently one of the most feared in world cricket, and cricket legend Brett Lee has declared the Pat Cummins-led current attack the best Australia has ever produced. Brett Lee has said that the current combination of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, and Josh Hazlewood has now surpassed his own famous Australian attack from the early 2000s.

Adding to this firepower, Scott Boland has been a brilliant backup whenever Hazlewood has been out, making the Australian bowling attack more dangerous. For the third Ashes 2025-26 Test in Adelaide, Cummins and Lyon will return to the Australian team to form a near-perfect bowling unit.

Brett Lee hails modern Australian attack as best in history

Looking at the numbers, Cummins, Starc, Lyon, and Hazlewood have played a combined total of 389 Tests and taken an incredible 1,586 wickets. Three of them—Cummins, Starc, and Lyon—have already crossed the 300-wicket mark, while Hazlewood’s numbers stand at 295, and he will easily join them in the elite club once he returns from injury.

SHORTS

View More

Your daily dose of cricket!

Loading...

Read Also: Sanju Samson slotted at No. 3 in India’s Playing XI for 3rd T20I vs South Africa

When all four have played together in 35 Tests, Australia has won 22 matches, lost nine, and drawn four, taking a record 567 wickets. However, Boland has been exceptional since his Test debut in 2021, taking 69 wickets at an average of 18.17, which is the best bowling average of any bowler in the last 90 years in the longest format of the game.

In comparison, Australia’s famous early-2000s bowling group of Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Jason Gillespie, and Brett Lee played 16 tests together, taking 1,842 wickets between them and winning 10 of those 16 matches. While that attack was a key part of Australia’s dominance during that era, Lee believes the current bowlers have taken it to a new level, both in skill and consistency.

Australian bowlers work in perfect harmony

The strength of the current attack comes from how each bowler complements the other. Lyon brings control and spin mastery, Starc adds a dangerous left-arm angle, Hazlewood delivers swing and bounce, and Cummins can adapt and create pressure around their strengths.

Read Also: Ajinkya Rahane named KKR captain; Young batter ordered to take up wicketkeeping in IPL 2026

This mix allows them to work together perfectly, each bowler enhancing the other’s impact, making it extremely difficult for any batting lineup to score freely. On the other hand, the conditions have also changed over the years, and the Australian bowlers have adapted brilliantly.

And the most important thing is that they understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses and can adjust strategies on the field seamlessly. And now Boland has also become an important part of the current Test setup, adding depth whenever he gets a chance to play.

I would put them above us: Brett Lee

Lee was quoted as saying by AAP: “They’re the best ever, I reckon. It’s different eras, and it’s hard to compare, but I would put them above us. If you look purely at stats, everyone has taken over 250 Test wickets, and that’s never been done before.

Scott Boland, if he is included in that, is a bit like Michael Kasprowicz; he didn’t really get an opportunity but is a wonderful bowler. These guys are so good that the Australian public won’t recognize how good they are until they’re gone.”