Australian attack could become world's best, says coach Mickey Arthur

James Pattinson

Australian coach Mickey Arthur said that his fast-men has the  potential to become the best fast bowlers in the world.

"I thought we had 15 players that can play international cricket at any given time," Arthur told reporters on Saturday. "Hopefully by the end of the summer we might have 22 guys that can do that because we need to build up our strength in depth, which we are doing now. But I do think this pace attack has the potential to become the best in the world."

Australian fast bowlers claimed 19 of India's wickets - Lyon being the exception to dismiss the final wicket of the match - in their 1st Test match of the series at the MCG. Youngster James Pattinson became Man of the Match for the second time in his three-Test career.

Ben Hilfenhaus showed a lot of improvement over the past year, and Peter Siddle's aggression and skill helped him dismiss Sachin Tendulkar in both innings.

Arthur showed his belief in the spinner Nathon Lyon saying the conditions at SGC will favour him.

"I'm pretty loath to go into any Test match without a spinner," Arthur said. "Obviously conditions will determine that, but the SCG has normally got a history of favouring spin down the line."

"There is absolutely no doubt that they [India] will try and go after him [Lyon]," Arthur said. "But Nathan is a pretty skilful offspinner and I reckon that will develop into a very interesting contest. I think we'll get a lot of overs out of Nathan if it's a typical SCG wicket and I've got full confidence in his ability."

Arthur was also very confident on Australia's top order batsmen.

"I think we just need to give them time, especially our younger players at one, two and three," Arthur said. "David Warner is going to be a great player in all three forms of the game, same with Shaun Marsh. I think Ed Cowan gave us that stability that we were looking for, especially in the first innings."