Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted August 8, 2010 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 8, 2010 (edited) Here's a question. How many real Fast bowlers did we have pre-C21st? We had a shitload of average Fast-Medium, and Medium-Fast (Of which Martin Bicknell was possibly the worst), but I can't think of too many legitimately Fast English bowlers in the 1980's and 1990's. Devon Malcolm, Martin McCague, Syd Lawrence, Alex Tudor?  There's an article on it here.  Not sure I would put Tudor in the bracket with the other three although by rights he was fast enough.  There are a couple of others though, notably Greg Thomas and Duncan Spencer, but they were both crocks - as were everyone else in that list aside from big Dev. The problem with those two is that they played in eras of ridiculous amounts of county cricket. Now we play in an era of ridiculous amounts of international cricket.  On his day, Sajid Mahmood can be very quick, and Liam Plunkett is very slippery too. Mark Footitt at Derbyshire also used to be really quick but he lost pace since an injury too. But to be honest, the reason we don't often produce them is because medium pace seamers traditionally have been enough over here.  And oi, no slagging off Bicknell - he might only have piddled deliveries down at about 70mph but he still made a heroic comeback against the Saffies at Headingley a couple of years before he retired! Edited August 8, 2010 by Gladstone Small Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluetonic Posted August 8, 2010 Share Posted August 8, 2010 Wasn't Craig White pretty quick? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Curious Orange Posted August 8, 2010 Share Posted August 8, 2010 Craig White had that purple patch around 2000-2001 where he was bowling 90mph plus off a pretty short run up - but I don't think his body was able to take it for a long enough to be classed as a fast bowler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted August 9, 2010 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 9, 2010 Yeah, he was never quite up there with the quickest around, but he was sharp enough. Great at the old reverse swing and that. Â If Pakistan add another 20 or 30 today, could be a tricky chase considering how well Ajmal bowled in the first innings, and the pitch is turning more now as well. Still expect England to win though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Nexus Posted August 9, 2010 Paid Members Share Posted August 9, 2010 Cook's had another bad innings. The Aussies really don't have much to be worried about, so many of the batsmen are too inconsistant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted August 10, 2010 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 10, 2010 Butch may well be most interested in this too. New Zealand batsman Peter Ingram is back in their side today for their ODI against India, and if you check out his Cricinfo profile you'll notice that he is packing arguably the best facial hair in current day cricket. Splendid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LariatTom Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 (edited) Things definitely aren't going well. I really can't see why Strauss decided to bat first, Anderson would have absolutely loved a bowl in these conditions and I can imagine he's seriously regretting this decision right now. England are in major trouble and I can see them being bowled out pretty cheaply and Pakistan will be putting the pads on before tea. This Riaz kid is a bit of a wonder as well, what a debut from him! Â Jimmy's going to have to give us some of his best this afternoon. Edited August 18, 2010 by LariatTom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LariatTom Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 Well, I truly stand corrected and ready to eat my hat. A good session of cricket from England in the end, especially compared to this morning. Broad seems to be showing a bit of that potential he had as a future all-rounder, and Prior is batting well. It's pretty difficult to figure out exactly how they're batting with only the soothing tones of TMS commentary. I did turn over to watch Robot Wars, but I'm happy to see we haven't lost another wicket in that time. If Broad and Prior can help get the score to 250, England still have a chance in this one. Â I'm looking forward to some of the highlights this evening though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergio Bellend Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 Things definitely aren't going well. I really can't see why Strauss decided to bat first, Anderson would have absolutely loved a bowl in these conditions and I can imagine he's seriously regretting this decision right now. England are in major trouble and I can see them being bowled out pretty cheaply and Pakistan will be putting the pads on before tea. This Riaz kid is a bit of a wonder as well, what a debut from him! Jimmy's going to have to give us some of his best this afternoon.  As I said before the last test. You win the toss against this Pakistani team and unless conditions scream BAT you bowl, bowl, bowl. Yes we've made a recovery but could have been bowled out for 110 and on the back foot. Yet this pakistani team can't bat (except the tailenders) and they could easily have been in the same position, as long as Yousuf doesn't blast a ton.  Nice recovery, 200 in the first innings should be plenty unless Yousuf gets going.  Did anybody watch the t20 finals day at the weekend? Another bloody long day, but a fantastic final that had everything and an unbelievable last couple of overs when it looked like the game was done and dusted. Hampshire were great, some top prospects for England in the future-namely the boy Briggs and Jimmy Adams, who has hit form suddenly as he's got older. Plus they didn't have Lumb, Simon Jones, Mascarahas, Kabir Ali and Pothas all out injured. Buttler at Somerset looks a top player as well.  The tournament really, really dragged and the format was fine as it was previously but the finals day was aces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LariatTom Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 Oh, for sure. Though it seems that we've just replicated Pakistan's batting model where our bowlers are the ones putting the ones on the board. It really was a stupid decision from Strauss to want to bat first. We've managed to get past 220, and on this wicket, that could prove to be a rather useful score. Â Asif sounds as if he's picked something up as I write this, looking at his boot and trying to stretch his leg. Hopefully nothing too serious. Â I missed the T20 finals, though I did keep track of them online at various points through the day. It sounded like an absolutely mental finish. I'm hoping to get to the CB40 game at Liverpool first weekend in September, money permitting, to see Lancashire take on Worcestershire. Should be a good game, and with Lancashire having a 4 day game at Liverpool in the run up, I'd expect it to be a near-full house. It'll be interesting to see what attendances are like for those games. With Old Trafford not being used for Lancashire's home games next season, the vast majority of them will be at Liverpool, with the odd game at Blackpool and another location which I've totally forgotten. I don't know what the pricing is like for other county games, but Liverpool for the Pro40 is Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted August 19, 2010 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 19, 2010 I was listening to Phil Tufnell's show on 5Live last night and they were talking about Ricky Ponting's prediction that Australia would win 5-0 and Michael Vaughan said that he reckons Ponting was 'on the sauce' when he said that. I have to agree - when Glenn McGrath has said in the past, you KNEW he believed it. Ponting's suggestion smacks of complete desperation to me. Vaughan said that making a statement like that does Strauss and Flower's team talks for them and that it proves that England have a clear psychological edge going into the edge. Â Of course, this will count for fuck all unless Cook and Pietersen either find some form or are replaced because both have gone completely to fuck right now. I'm actually quite convinced now that Pietersen will never hit the heights he did in the first two or three years of his international career again and that he has been found out at international level in terms of his technique. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harvey Dent Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 Well done to Cookie for a decent showing this morning. He's played some shots and had his luck but he's looking better and hopefully this is just the knock he needs. Hopefully he can kick on and make a big triple figure score this afternoon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted August 20, 2010 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 20, 2010 He's had some good luck in that innings but he's played to his strengths. Trescothick went through a similar thing before he just accepted his weaknesses would never be fully repaired and just played as much to his strengths as he could. Cook would do well to stop faffing with his technique and stick to that philosophy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baz Windham Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 We are such a depressingly inconsistent team. Also when none of your top 6 are in consistent form it's a slight worry for the ashes. Strauss has had one lucky 50 this summer, Trott - No big score, Cook - we know his woes, Pietersen - One very, very lucky and scratchy 80, Morgan - A ton followed by nothing, Collingwood - one decent score then nothing. You aren't going to score ton after ton but in a 4 match/8 innings series if you were in form you'd hope to have at least a couple of 100's and couple of fifties/decent chip-ins. Most of our team for quite a while now seem to go scores like 17, 4, 27, 0, 100 then repeat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators PowerButchi Posted August 20, 2010 Moderators Share Posted August 20, 2010 I bet Ian Bell is happy watching at home though. Â Odds on us all calling for a Ramps recall by the flight to Sydney? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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