Hagdorn: McDermott ready for Pakistan. (15 Oct 95)

Title: Billy Backs `The Best Team` Author: Kim Hagdorn Source: Sunday Herald-Sun (October 15, 1995)

Champion fast bowler Craig McDermott is ready to shatter Pakistan`s boast that it has the best bowling combination in the world.

McDermott, who was forced to miss the triumphant Test series against the West Indies earlier this year after he injured his ankle in a freak fall, is fit and raring to put the record straight.

He does not assert he and prospective fast-bowling partner Glenn McGrath have the same blistering pace as Pakistani pair Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.

He said Australia`s flexibility and the lethal spin of Shane Warne made the reigning world Test champions the most potent combination in the game.

"Waqar and Wasim have been a lethal bowling pair for some time now and they`ve earned respect, a bit like Merv (Hughes) and I were for about five or six years," 270 Test wicket veteran McDermott said.

"You don`t need to be the best opening attack in the world to win a Test series.

"We probably didn`t have what a lot of people thought was the best attack in the West Indies and we won that series.

"We won through being the best team and that`s what Test cricket is all about."

McDermott admits that at 30 he faces increasing challenges from younger men for his position in the national team.

"We`ve got four or five fast bowlers around, so the competition is healthy," McDermott said. "It is the same with the batting.

"We`ve got some fantastic young players that have performed well with the Australia A team in England over the winter.

"It all looks healthy for Australian cricket."

McDermott revealed he had cut down on his normally heavy offseason training load in the lead up to this season.

"Right now I`m just looking forward to getting the first game for Queensland out of the way, on Thursday, and am hoping I`m at my best for November 9 (first Test)," he said.

Test-opener Michael Slater, in Perth for the start of the Sheffield Shield season, said he could not settle the argument about which cricket nation had the most damaging pair.

"I respect Wasim and Waqar as much as anyone," Slater said.

"Curtley Ambrose and Courtney Walsh are a fantastic combination.

"But on any given day anyone of about six bowlers in the world can be the best," Slater said.

"Wasim and Waqar have a bit of an advantage in that they are a leftarm and right-arm combination.

"One is ultra quick in Waqar and the other, Wasim, can swing the ball both ways." he said.