Piyush Chawla

[Athlai]

Vettori enjoys flight deviations himself.

 

[Richard]

So, just to clarify: You think that flighting a ball, with sufficient spin on it so that it dips before the batsman gets to it, is a skill but you don't believe that Powar is someone who is sufficiently skilled at it?

It's a skill, but I don't believe it's one that'll be that effective unless the ball turns.

Hence, I don't think Powar will have a particularly successful career.

 

[pup11]

I think as a spinner you can still taste success even if you don't turn the ball much and if you have the ability to flight the ball well, then you can beat the batsman in flight, with drift and variations in pace.

 

[Richard]

You can beat them with it, but you won't often if ever get many wickets by doing so, you need to turn it as well.

 

[pup11]

I think big turn is only produced by wrist spinners nowadays because the finger spinners need some bite of the track to get some turn but since the pitches in modern day flat and hard and so they hardly assist finger spinner, so flight is the only real weapon they have.

 

[Richard]

Yeah, exactly - that just means fingerspinners can't be effective everywhere any more.

No coincidence that the start of this period coincided almost exactly with covered wickets in this country.

 

[Sanz]

It's a skill, but I don't believe it's one that'll be that effective unless the ball turns.

Hence, I don't think Powar will have a particularly successful career.

It doesn't matter if he will have a successful career or not.

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/engvind/content/current/story/309893.html

 

[honestbharani]

You can beat them with it, but you won't often if ever get many wickets by doing so, you need to turn it as well.

not reallly... you can always beat guys in flight and get them to hole out even if you don't turn it much... And it is especially useful in ODIs and even in tests when batsmen are looking to go after you.......

 

[Richard]

But only if they lose their heads looking to go after you - you can murder a bowler who flights loads if you attack judiciously.

 

[Nishant]

But only if they lose their heads looking to go after you - you can murder a bowler who flights loads if you attack judiciously.

or you could go out....which is the point of having bowlers like Powar...they are wicket takers.....its a skill to have courage like that.

 

[honestbharani]

But only if they lose their heads looking to go after you - you can murder a bowler who flights loads if you attack judiciously.

The thing is Richard, when a ball is thrown up well above the eye level, working it for a single becomes difficult because basically there is no pace on the ball and you have to manufacture all the pace. And when you are looking to do that, your head could just go up a trifle earlier than normal while playing the drive and you end up scooping the ball to covers.... With the four guys inside the circle at cover, point and midwicket and short fine leg, some of your best options for singles get cut off. Esp. if you have very quick guys at cover and midwicket who are well inside the circle, the easy single almost ceases to be an option and that is why you get many caught and bowled and caught at cover or midwicket with these type of bowlers.... Trust me, it is hard as hell to get these guys off as long as they have the ability to hit the right length and line most of the time....

 

[Richard]

So why does it happen so rarely?

 

[silentstriker]

So why does it happen so rarely?

Because proper flight and drift are not easy to do accurately and consistently, and the fact that the slightest mistakes are punished heavily.

 

[Richard]

So rarely that I've never seen a bowler capable of it - once?

 

[Prince EWS]

So rarely that I've never seen a bowler capable of it - once?

You've never seen a batsman beaten in flight? I find that hard to believe.

 

[shortpitched713]

You've never seen a batsman beaten in flight? I find that hard to believe.

Well its often hard to say if he was beaten by the flight, or the drift that occured during the flight. To separate such variables seems to border on the ridiculous for me personally though.

 

[honestbharani]

So rarely that I've never seen a bowler capable of it - once?

how did Panesar get Dravid out in one of the tests? And I m really amazed that u have never seen guys getting caught at midwicket or caught and bowled in cricket? And the reason it is kinda rare is that such bowlers who can control the flight and loop are themselves rare and even if you do come across them, most teams don't play them in their sides most of the time. And also, batsmen tend to block out such deliveries because they know that the attempted flatter one or the one loose delivery is always around the corner.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Richard's favourite ever batsman was a bowler who used flight to get out batsmen quite often (look at his last ODI series in Australia).

 

[Richard]

This one?

 

[Richard]

You've never seen a batsman beaten in flight? I find that hard to believe.

how did Panesar get Dravid out in one of the tests? And I m really amazed that u have never seen guys getting caught at midwicket or caught and bowled in cricket? And the reason it is kinda rare is that such bowlers who can control the flight and loop are themselves rare and even if you do come across them, most teams don't play them in their sides most of the time. And also, batsmen tend to block out such deliveries because they know that the attempted flatter one or the one loose delivery is always around the corner.

Exactly - they block things out, so such bowlers aren't really much of a threat...

The only problem with such bowlers comes when you try to attack them headlessly.

I see batsmen get caught at mid-wicket and extra-cover by being beaten in flight occasionally, but only very occasionally. Mostly being beaten in flight just results in an uncomfortable-looking stroke and no real harm done.

Whereas being beaten by turn results in wickets much more often. And bowlers who turn the ball and use loop can get batsmen out regardless of whether they look to attack or defend them.