Clark and Asif lead fast-bowling revival

Over the last few years, the complaint heard often by most cricket pundits has been the dearth of fast-bowling talent: Pakistan are without the dreaded duo of Wasim and Waqar while Shoaib Akhtar only appears intermittently; Allan Donald's retirement has affected South Africa significantly; and Australia have been dealt a significant blow by Glenn McGrath's farewell. Amid all the gloom in the fast-bowling horizon, though, there appears to be some brighter news at last - Mohammad Asif, the 24-year-old fast bowler from Pakistan, has bowled quite splendidly in South Africa and already has 44 wickets in eight Tests at a splendid average of 20. Australia's Stuart Clark has been equally impressive with 47 wickets in nine matches at less than 20 apiece. It's too early yet to pronounce definitive judgments, but the consistency and control that both have displayed so far almost inevitably draw comparisons with McGrath, which is excellent news for a cricket world starved of quality fast bowlers.

The numbers for Asif and Clark are outstanding, and while Clark has conceded fewer runs per wicket, it's tempting to rate Asif's performances slightly higher for the varied conditions he's achieved them in - Clark has taken all but one of his wickets on the bouncy tracks of Australia and South Africa.

Where Clark has so far scored over Asif is in his potency against both right- and left-handed batsmen. As the table below shows, Clark averages less than 20 against both types of batsmen. Asif, on the other hand, clearly enjoys bowling to the right-handers much more: his ability to land it around off and move it both ways has fetched him 31 right-handers' wickets at 16 apiece, but his potency hasn't been quite as much when the left-handers are on strike.

Clark's effectiveness against left-handers is encapsulated in the table below - Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook have dismal stats against him, while Ashwell Prince has only done marginally better. The one batsman who has had his number is Kevin Pietersen, who has been dismissed just once and averages 96 against Clark.

Against Asif, on the other hand, Strauss and Cook have done considerably better, indicating that Asif isn't quite the same threat against left-handers. What's interesting, though, is the manner in which both bowlers have dominated Jacques Kallis, arguably the most technically proficient batsman today. Kallis has been dismissed four times for just 37 runs against Clark, while Asif has nailed him twice conceding just 38. The extent of struggle for Kallis is obvious from the fact that against both bowlers he scores at less than two runs per over.

With starts like these - not only have they consistently taken wickets, they've also dominated one of the best batsmen in the game today - it's hardly surprising that are seen as key figures in their sides' bowling attacks. Both Clark and Asif are close to the ten-Test mark, and looking back at bowlers who've made impressive starts to their Test careers, it's striking to see that none of the top eight belong to the current era. The most recent name is that of Ian Botham, who had an impressive haul of 53 wickets and an average of 17.33 after ten.

The table below lists the early performances of some of the top bowlers in the modern era, and it's interesting to see that Clark and Asif have better averages than all these bowlers except Waqar Younis, whose numbers are marginally better than Asif's. All the names mentioned below, though, went on to get better with experience and kept themselves at least one step ahead of opposition batsmen. The challenge before Clark and Asif is to ensure that they keep up the momentum they have established now.