Dearth of fast bowlers at Champions Trophy raises questions for ICC

The 2025 edition of the Champions Trophy will take place with a host of the sport’s leading fast bowlers sidelined, mostly through injury — but in the case of Mitchell Starc mainly because he needs a break. 

With an international calendar bursting at the seams — and the supposed custodian of the sport, the International Cricket Council (ICC), deeming it fit to shoehorn a men’s limited-overs event onto the schedule every year until 2031 — it was always likely something, or in this case some people, would suffer. 

That it should be one of the most attractive elements of the game is deeply concerning. 

Australian pair Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood are sidelined with injury. Starc’s wife Alyssa Healy, who is the Australian women’s captain, said he was fine but in need of a break mentally and physically. 

Jasprit Bumrah isn’t in the Indian team because of a lower back injury, with a similar ailment keeping Anrich Nortjé out of the competition. His replacement, Gerald Coetzee, is absent after a recurrence of the groin problem that has kept him out of the bulk of the SA international summer. 

On Tuesday, New Zealand had to replace fast bowler Lockie Ferguson with all-rounder Kyle Jamieson. 

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the cricket calendar is chock-a-block,” said Proteas one-day bowling coach Anton Roux. 

Cricket SA will be relieved it is not only the Proteas who are suffering with a loss of fast bowlers.

At one point this season, up to nine SA fast bowlers were sidelined with ailments. It forced the Proteas to hand Test debuts to Corbin Bosch and Kwena Maphaka, and in the SA20 derailed the challenge of the Joburg Super Kings, who lost four quicks one week into the competition. 

A mentally and physically draining five-Test series Down Under, also knocking out three of the world’s best fast bowlers, illustrates it is not only a South African problem. Pakistan decided not to call on Shaheen Afridi, even though it hurt their chances in the Test series here, while England have had to carefully manage Jofra Archer and Mark Wood to ensure they arrive at the Champions Trophy in good nick.

“Everyone loves a fast bowler. The fans love to see a guy bowling at high speed, but we need to be looking after the guys so they are firing on all cylinders in every competition they play,” Roux said.

SA have done that with Kagiso Rabada by prioritising the Test matches this summer. Of the 10 white-ball internationals (seven T20s and three ODIs) played in SA this season, Rabada only played in the first and third ODIs against Pakistan.

“Mapping out their 12-month calendar is crucial,” Roux said. “How you find windows to recuperate or get stronger — that is going to be key for fast bowlers, not only for [SA] but world cricket, moving forward.” 

It could be Australia are doing the same with their three quicks. Hazlewood is not available for the Indian Premier League but Cummins and Starc will be involved. They are all crucial to Australia’s chances of retaining the World Test Championship against SA in June, while at the end of the year there’s the Ashes. 

With all that cricket, something was going to suffer. It will be interesting to see how the ICC assesses not having some of the game’s most attractive performers at one of its most high-profile events — and what decisions it will take to ensure that isn’t the case in the future.